Why would anyone pay more for something? Unless they see some sort of value or benefit in it, they wouldn’t.
This is why customers simply won’t pay more for anything they view as a commodity or — in sales terms — “a feature.”
If that is the case, then why do so many salespeople spend their time doing nothing but selling product features to customers? Doing so means they’re never going to get anything more than the lowest of prices and will always be subject to comparison to others.
On the other hand, customers will gladly pay more for the same item if they understand and believe how it will help them solve their needs or achieve their outcomes. This is why asking questions is so important.
There is no way anyone can determine what another person’s needs are without asking them and getting them involved in the sale.
The customer may have one specific need or they might have several, but not until the customer sees how what you have will help them are they going to start thinking about paying more for something.
Key is it’s not that the customer wants to pay more, but they will because of the size of the need — or the benefit they’re looking to achieve is greater than the price. We maximize our selling price and profit when we are able to successfully get the customer to realize the magnitude of the need they’re looking to solve.
Your key is to uncover from the customer at least 3 needs they have or benefits they desire. You have to help them see that at least one of them is significant in size and either poses so much risk to them or opportunity that they need to buy at your price.
If we try to close a sale before understanding what their needs are, the only thing we will be successful at is allowing the customer to buy a feature at a price less than we want to sell it at. Selling at a profit is a much better way to excel as a salesperson.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
