Communicating Value

Abstract: People buy for their reasons, not yours. This article covers the key elements that prospects want to hear you talk about.

Always, but especially during lean times, effective sales professionals know the importance of communicating value.

Budgets ? if they ever were discretionary ? are tighter. Business customers are being asked to do more with less. Decisions are increasingly less on WHERE to spend the money and more on WHY we need to spend the money.

Value is the customer's perception of your worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance with respect to them or their business. Value addresses the customer's question, "What can this person or company do for me?"

Even spending time on the phone with you must return something of value to the customer. You must initially and continually earn the right to have the customer invest their time and money with you.

Position value by explicitly answering these questions throughout the sales cycle:

• How much? (What can the customer expect to gain by doing business with you in terms of increased sales, lower costs, etc.?)

• How soon? (When will the customer be able to receive the value? This is a critical question in today's economy.)

• How sure? (Where is the proof that the customer will in fact attain the value stated? References and examples are critical.)

How would YOU answer these questions for each of your prospects or customers? If you don't have the answers, expect resistance. If you do have answers and your solution is directly linked to your customer's articulated needs, you will be successful even in these difficult times.

Successful reps tell their customers what the value to them is ? customers shouldn't have to work to figure it out themselves. If you don't explicitly quantify the value your customer can expect to receive, and your competition may be doing this work for your customer, who is going to win the business?

This information comes from Forming Business Relationships, a module in Entelechy's High Performance Sales training. Check out this module as well as our 40 other modules, training tools, and eGuides at http://www.unlockit.com.

About The Author

Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Check out our 40 customizable modules, training tools, and eGuides at www.unlockit.com. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com

---

Powered by Feedzilla

Websites For Sale

Master Resell Rights Ebooks

Creating the Right ?Viral Reputation?

Unless you are brand new to business, or have been... Read More

Over Deliver - The Key to Customer Satisfaction

Client satisfaction starts with meeting or beating the contractual obligations... Read More

How to Keep Customers

Who was it that said - "The customer is always... Read More

To Complain and Win! - My Personal Recipe

Prime directive: Make sure your claim is reasonable! Otherwise, forget... Read More

Top 10 customer service tips

1. Hire people who have a service attitude. Some people... Read More

Basic Levels of Consumer Integrity that Presently Permeates Society

Reality is not always pretty. But here is a tad... Read More

Why You Should Always Honour Your Guarantees - Even When The Customer Is In The Wrong

The Reason Why Direct Internet Marketers Have To Work So... Read More

Managing Your Business When One Client Takes Alot of Your Time

How often has your schedule been thrown out of whack... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Win the Loyalty of Customers

Dr. Michael LeBoeuf, in his cassette album entitled, Win Customers... Read More

What?s in a Name?

Different people call their Customers by different names. If they... Read More

Customers - What They Really Want - 6 Secrets of Customer Service

What customers really want can be divided into two areas.Firstly... Read More

Customer Service - Winning Customer Experiences

Winning Customer ExperiencesMuch research has been done on what the... Read More

How to Win the Hearts of Your Customers and Friends

Those of us doing business over the internet have to... Read More

Listening to Customers - 5 Tips

In a strange juxtapositioning of articles, this month's UK '... Read More

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

However, in the world of business, this cliché may not... Read More

Cheap To Keep

You've heard it all before when it comes to stats... Read More

8 Critical Steps to Establish a Customer Service Culture

"Every company's greatest assets are its customers, because without customers... Read More

Stand Out in Business the Write Way

When was the last time you received a handwritten note... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Prevent Customer Service Conflicts

There are five techniques that have been proven to be... Read More

What Exactly is Customer Relationship Management?

The defintion of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that I favor... Read More

The Death of the Loyal Customer

One of my classes in management focused on the repeat... Read More

Make Sure You Get The Customer Perspective

Businesses that fail, often forget to seek out the customer... Read More

Have You Hugged a Customer Today?

It all started a couple of weeks ago when a... Read More

Sales Marketing: 10 High Impact Ways To Improve Your Customer Service

If you want to last a long time in business... Read More

Customer Feedback: Everyone has an Opinion - USE IT!

Have you ever been in a department store and known... Read More