How to Sell Value

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>> Gerhard Gschwandtner: Hi, my name is Gerhard Gschwandtner, and welcome to Selling Power's daily report. Today we have the pleasure of meeting with Julie Thomas, CEO of Value Vision Associates. Welcome, Julie.

>> Julie Thomas: Thank you, Gerhard. I'm glad to be here.

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Gschwandtner: You wrote this wonderful book on value selling. Can you share with us what are the secrets for selling value?

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Thomas: Absolutely, Gerhard. We work with a number of companies that are trying to compete in today's marketplace based on value, not necessarily on price. And value selling is all about giving them both the tools, the skills, and a process for them to differentiate their capabilities and uncover what the customer or prospect values, so that they can connect to it with the benefits that they bring to the table.

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Gschwandtner: So the decision about value should be made by the customer, not by the salesperson.

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Thomas: Absolutely. We believe that value's customer-specific. In other words, two companies, two individuals may make the same exact purchase decisions, but for very different reasons. So it's important that the salesperson uncovers what that individual or the company values, so that they can connect to it with what their solution or service or product brings to the table.

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Gschwandtner: So what's the process for teasing out that information from the prospect or from the company?

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Thomas: People need a reason to change. So for any sales professional it's important for them to go in and -- as they meet with those prospects or existing customers -- to uncover what that potential reason to change might be. Are they dissatisfied with their current supplier? Are they trying to grow their business into new ways? Are they trying to contain costs and therefore are looking for efficiencies somewhere or they're trying to manage their suppliers. And once they uncover what that reason to change is, they can uncover the challenges and issues and problems associated with that to position their products and services in that customer-specific context.

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Gschwandtner: So what you're saying is that really in every sales situation, there's a different set of circumstances, and salespeople need to customize their solution and their value proposition for the customer.

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Thomas: Absolutely. It's contextual. So even though you might be faced with some of the same business challenges as another organization, you're going to articulate those differently than maybe your competitor or another company in that industry. So it's important for the salespeople to understand that individual's perspective and how they articulate it and how they define it, so they can play back their solution in that context. And, and sometimes it's even playing back the same exact words, so guess what, now that prospect believes they created the solution with you as opposed to you pushing the solution on them.

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Gschwandtner: So once you have the customer in a situation where they articulate how they think they can overcome this, the problem and solve the problem, then you come in with a value proposition?

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Thomas: Then you can uncover, "Okay, what's, what's it worth to you to solve that problem? What's it worth to your company? What's the impact? What's the value?" and uncover how they're going to measure that impact. Then based on what we know as the value that we can bring to the table, we can connect to that impact that they expect.

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Gschwandtner: So in other words you need to slide the calculator to the customer's side of the table.

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Thomas: Absolutely. Because if they don't believe, own, and visualize the value that you can bring to the table, guess what: it's just you telling them how great it's going to be. And if they don't believe it, who cares?

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Gschwandtner: Now where does the relationship fit in all that context?

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Thomas: Well, the reality is, in order for you to tell me what's the impact, you better trust me and have a relationship with me.

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Gschwandtner: Julie, what would be a good way to establish credibility?

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Thomas: Well, I think there's a number of ways that salespeople can and do establish credibility. The first is being very respectful of the people they're calling on. Be on time, have an agenda, have a purpose for every meeting. The days of what I call howdy-doody sales calls are over, where you're just going to sit over a cup of coffee, chit-chat about the weekend and then move on and assume that they'll ultimately buy from you.

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Gschwandtner: Well, thank you, Julie for sharing this important information. Tune in tomorrow. We're going to continue our conversation with Julie Thomas, and we find out how to integrate value selling in order to improve business performance.

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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====