Value propositions are not driven by price.
I hear the point all the time from new salespeople or from people who don’t necessarily live the sales role 100% of the time — they claim the word “value” means low price. This is not the case at all, and I cringe each time I hear someone use this definition of the word “value.”
Value means you’re receiving something you want…something for which you are looking. One of the best examples I love to use is this: You could argue that buying bags of plain flour in a store and using that as 100% of your food diet would be the cheapest way you could eat. If that’s the case and we believe that “value” represents low-price, then that would mean flour is the best value out of everything you could buy in a food store.
I would challenge anyone to live solely on bags of flour. If we stay with the food store example, then a T-bone steak may be the best value to another person, who happens to have their heart set on a T-bone steak and is fixing a recipe that calls for a T-bone steak. The steak is obviously more expensive than the flour. But the steak represents the best “value” to the customer, even though it costs more. The customer wants the steak, not the flour.
This is why I argue so much for salespeople to take the time to listen to their customer and to ask them questions that get them to reveal what they are truly looking for. They aren’t simply looking for lowest price. Lowest price means nothing if it is not delivering the “value” — the item or service they truly want. When we focus 100% of our time on helping the customer see value, not only will we be able to close the greatest number of sales, but we will do so at the highest possible price.
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