By Paul Reilly
Imagine you’re competing for a piece of business. You’re in a conference room with your top two competitors. The prospect walks into the room and says, “Here is a list of our needs and requirements. Whoever presents the best value-added solution will win our business.” The prospect turns around and walks toward the door, but before leaving he says, “Oh yeah! I forgot to mention; price doesn’t matter.”
Are you confident that you would beat the competition?
How would you change your sales approach if value was the only factor? I’m guessing you would look for additional and creative ways to add value. You’d meet with different decision makers. You’d ask your internal team to help find additional ways to add value. You’d investigate, ask questions, and find those hidden needs and wants. Every hidden, unmet need creates an opportunity to separate yourself from the competition.
I’m guessing you would spend more time preparing for this meeting. You wouldn’t limit your solution to the prospect’s understanding of their own needs. You would take the extra time to help your prospect explore ideas they didn’t know were possible.
There is only one limit to the value you create. It’s NOT price. It’s the edge of your imagination.
Never assume the prospect has a complete understanding of their needs and how to satisfy their needs. Your prospects don’t know what they don’t know. Here is a list of questions to help you create more value than the competition:
- What is the best solution to completely satisfy the prospect’s needs and help them achieve the outcomes important to them?
- What does the prospect think they know that just isn’t so?
- What concerns this prospect more than paying a higher price?
- What does the prospect hate doing that we can do for them?
- If this prospect had an unlimited budget, what additional value-added services or products would I recommend, and why?
- What is the most effective way to help the prospect achieve their desired outcome?
- What can we do to make it easier for this prospect to do business with us?
Answering these questions helps you confidently present your solution—regardless of the price. Our research continues to show that price is not nearly as important as salespeople make it out to be. In fact, salespeople often make a bigger deal out of price than prospects. Just imagine the value you’d create if price did not matter.