Value Proposition: What is your Value Proposition in the Eye of Your Clients?
What is your Value Proposition in the Eye of your Client?
I asked a client one time, “Kyle, why do you do business with me?” His response was, “Those wonderful Gourmet Chocolate-Chip Brownies that you bring me every Christmas.”
Yes, those Gourmet Chocolate-Chip Brownies are scrumptious. An 80 year old friend of mine bakes these for me each year. Usually around July, several of my clients begin to ask, “When are you going to bring us more brownies?” I have to remind them it isn’t Christmas yet!
Much has been written about Value Proposition and how you must offer so much more than your competition in order to retain business. However, do you know from your client’s prospective the Value Proposition that you provide?
Besides tempting clients with brownies each year, here are several additional tips that you can use to engage clients and prospects to learn more about them and how to better be of service:
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- Industry – Keep abreast of their industry and discuss trends and happenings with them. Follow them on the internet through all of their social media; subscribe to their industry magazines; join their trade associations.
- Competition – Vet their competition through websites or available trade association information. Discuss what they are doing in comparison to their closest competition.
- Future of Company and Client – Periodically engage them in conversation as to what direction the company as a whole is going but also seek to find out about own their future plans. Are they looking to move up in the organization or on to better opportunities?
- Extras – Be willing to offer products and services that your competition either doesn’t offer or doesn’t want to offer. Over the years, I have provided my clients with many products outside of my core product offerings simply because they said they would buy it if I could provide.
- Partner – Figure out a means of partnering with your clients.
- Resource – Be the “go-to” person when your client needs a warm referral for products or services outside of your wheelhouse.
- Personal Values – How well do you know your client and what is important to them–their values and personal likes/dislikes?
Providing a real value to your clients comes in many forms. Don’t be afraid to simply ask how you can help them grow their business.
Peggy P. Edge © 2014
Sales: Engage the Prospect First
Engage the prospect first? Absolutely!
If you lead the sales presentation by telling Mr. Prospect how wonderful your company is; that your products/services are so superior to the competition; and start trying to close without identifying his needs, you have lost any opportunity to move the sale forward. You have yet to focus on him or his needs.
What is wrong with this picture? You know the saying that when you meet someone for the first time, within 5 minutes you have made your lasting impression on the other party. Well, within those first 5 minutes, Mr. Prospect has already tuned you out because you have not made any attempt to include him in this sales process.
How do you engage, include or elicit participation from a first time prospect?
- Ask probing questions. Get him to tell you about how his company operates, what they do, and how they do that. Don’t be afraid to ask anything that you believe will help you understand their needs.
- Decipher the problems. Again, you must ask. You cannot assume anything even though you might have some prior experience in the industry, don’t get caught categorizing what you are hearing into a pat solution. Be open-minded.
- Figure out why the issues are important. You absolutely must get details here so that you understand exactly what is going on within this organization.
I learned in my senior Marketing Problems class in college, first you must identify the facts and determine the issues had hand. As professional salesmen, you must engage the client first and foremost.
Only after you have accomplished this investigative portion of your visit, then you can move forward to the next steps:
- Conceive possible solutions (figuring out what products/services will be the best fit for the application)
- Make suggestions that are client based–not what you want to sell them today (Forget that you are going to make a $100 bonus to sell the newest widget right off the production line)
- Create recommendations (if these do not match the problems, you do not have a potential solution)
- Justify each recommendation for each solution proposed. (This is a requirement…each recommendation must have a corresponding justification.)
In that marketing class, the groundwork was laid with us as potential salesmen–before you can expect to be successful in sales, you must always apply one of the Rules of Sales–Engage the Prospect!
Peggy P. Edge (c) 2014
Networking- The 30 Sec Commercial
Sometimes when you offer a service, it is difficult to explain or describe exactly what it is that you do.
For example, if you say you are a Business Coach. What exactly does that mean? What do you really do!
The Key Step here is to:
Give an example of how you have helped a client.
One of the main purposes of a good, effective 30-Second Commercial is to be able to relay in layman’s terms:
1. What it is that you do for a living?
2. Who is your target market?
3. Why should someone be interested in what you have to sell–your value proposition?
When you give that commercial, you want those in ear-shot to be able to tell other people what you do and to be able to explain it enough so there could or might be some interest generated that would result in a one-on-one meeting or introduction.
Always keep in mind to speak in layman’s terms and to give examples of how you have solved a problem.
Peggy P. Edge (c), 2014
