How the Heck Do You Build Value in Sales?
It seems like everyone writes sales content these days, and nearly all of it talks about the importance of building value for your prospects. That sounds great of course, but chances are that even these self-proclaimed sales gurus will have a hard time explaining exactly how to build value in sales.
I’ve wanted to write this post for a while, not only to provide an easy-to-read explainer for salespeople, but to better understand the concept of value myself. It seems like a fairly difficult concept to nail down, but let’s give it a shot. And if this article’s headline offends you, my apologies, but that’s exactly how most salespeople ask the question.
The best way to explain the concept of value is this: Value is a fair return of worth, utility, and importance in exchange for money. To put it another way, value is how much someone believes your product or service to be worth to them.
The customer, and (in more macro terms) the market will decide the ultimate value of your product. But it is up to you, as a salesperson, to build up as much value for the prospect as possible. An important distinction to take into account is that value doesn’t mean how much YOU think your product or service is worth, or how much your company thinks your product is worth.
So how do you do that?
The short answer is: it depends. Just like every individual has different personal values, every prospect will have different motivations and things that they consider most valuable in a product or service. Your job as a salesperson is to figure out what those motivations are, and what thing(s) are most important to your prospect, and then find the best solution and maximize your product or service to fit those needs perfectly.
Listen to understand
Most understand just how valuable listening is in sales and business. To build value you need to listen not just to hear, but listen to understand. What is the prospect asking for? What it the prospect’s problem? What is their ideal solution? Make sure you’re listening for their motivations so you can use those same motivations to tailor your solution for them.
Sell features in ascending order
A great way to build value is to explain all of the things your product or service offers, and to do it in a way that builds up to the climax of your prospect’s most important need. For instance, if the prospect said their most important need was quick turnaround, you would present the features like this: “Customized product, within your budget, and lightning-fast turnaround.”
Sell the problem you solve
It’s absolutely critical that you identify the prospect’s problem and then paint a vivid picture of being able to solve that problem. This will not only make it clear that you listened and understood the prospect, but will position you and your product as the solution. This is also another way to sell the benefit of a product along with its feature. For instance, a feature of Spiro is an AI-Powered CRM, while a benefit is salespeople can increase their productivity and spend more time selling.
Trust and authority
If the prospect trusts you and views you as an authority, then it becomes much easier for them to take your word as to a product’s value. Trust is built by listening, being consistent and available, and always keeping your word. Authority comes from being well versed on your industry, your product and its nuances, and being prepared for the questions and objections you’re likely to encounter. You also want to follow up consistently with prospects, which a CRM like Spiro can help you to do.
Sweetening the deal
One very effective way companies build value is by seemingly offering more in order to earn the customer’s business. This can be an extra discount, an added bonus feature, or some other way to drop a little more value on top to help a customer make the intended decision. Make sure you don’t lead your presentation with the sweetener, and save it for when it will be most effective.
Tell a great story
This is where the true salespeople stand out while everyone else falters. You have to tell a great story about your product, your company, and your customer, and how those all tie in together. We all dream about our ideal careers, houses, cars, romantic partners, vacations, and whatever else you value. Salespeople need to play to those dreams and emotions, because the stories people tell themselves are, almost by definition, their values.
Believe what you say and say it with conviction
Having passion, belief, and conviction can be immensely helpful in building value for your prospects. Unfortunately, unless you’re Christian Bale or Meryl Streep, it’s pretty tough to fake it. This is why you should sell a product that you absolutely believe in. No matter how convincing you think you are, whether you believe in a product or not will shine through in your conversations. For instance, I can write with absolute certainty that my book, The Sales Survival Handbook is the funniest sales book ever written, and if you and I ever talked on the phone or in person, you’d believe it too.
These are some of the best ways to build value in sales, but there are other ways, and your company will play a huge role in how much value they are able to create through their product offerings, pricing, marketing, and support. As a salesperson, your job is to build as much value as humanely possible within the constraints of reality.
Remember, value is what your customer believes your product or service is worth to them, and it’s your job to convince them that it’s worth much more than it will cost.
