By Paul Reilly

What do you give the buyer the opportunity to do tomorrow they cannot do today?

This question pulls two motivational strings: the potential gain of a new opportunity, and the pain of what is not currently possible. In any buying decision, there are tradeoffs between sacrifices and gains. Buyers drag their feet, give price objections, or cling to the status quo when they’re more focused on the sacrifice than the potential gain. This mentality is a security mechanism to ensure we best utilize our resources—time and money. Value-added sellers bypass this barrier by communicating a unique type of value, opportunity value. If you’re going to secure the sale, then shift the buyer’s mindset.

Back to the original question… What do you give the buyer the opportunity to do tomorrow they cannot do today?  This is the most overlooked value companies bring to the table. What problems can the buyer fix because of your solution? What markets can the buyer now pursue because of the relationship with your company? Empowering buyers to go beyond where they are now is real value added—opportunity value, a real gain. This is a far cry from commodity selling. You bring hope and possibilities to the table. Your answers to these questions encourage buyers to dream again about possibilities.

A missed opportunity is a thorn in the buyer’s side. This is the opportunity cost of not pursuing your idea—the pain of missing out on a new possibility. Selling opportunity value is selling hope. Selling your opportunity value also makes the buyer painfully aware of what he or she misses by not going with your idea.

One top achiever shared a compelling example in our two-day Value-Added Selling seminar. He sells premium industrial equipment in the machining industry. His premium solution also commands a premium price. In this instance, his solution was roughly percent higher than the competitive solution. However, the seller was able to climb that hill by communicating his opportunity value. He explained to the customer, “Our solution gives you the opportunity to pursue new markets like the highly profitable aerospace industry. However, with the competitor’s solution, you cannot. As you continue to look for new growth opportunities, wouldn’t it make sense to invest in our solution? With our solution, you’ll at least have the opportunity to go after this market. But if you go with our competitor, you’ll never have the option. In the long run, choosing our competitor may be the more expensive solution.”

If your buyer is stuck on what they sacrifice, present a better future. A future filled with new opportunities and possibilities. At the same time, make them painfully aware of what they sacrifice by sticking with the status quo. This one-two punch of gain and pain will compel the buyer to act. Once again… What do you give the buyer the opportunity to do tomorrow they cannot do today?

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