In today’s highly commoditised global market, if a company doesn’t have a sales value proposition then it is unlikely they will be successful and achieve growth.
But even if you do have a value proposition – it doesn’t necessarily mean it is effective, as there are certainly both good and very bad ones out there.
Here’s a small exercise you can do with your sales team. Ask them the following questions;
- How your business is different
- How your company adds a valuable extra to its product or service
- How you save a customer/client money (something other than a better price)
- How your business provides a unique expertise
- How you can be used as a unique resource
- How your business simply does things better
Did anyone struggle? Was everyone’s response quite different? If there was any difficulty answering those questions then it is advisable that you spend some time working out your business’s value proposition, otherwise how can you expect to explain why people should buy your product/service? If your team can’t succinctly understand what it is you do well, what benefits there are for the end user, and why no one else offers what you do, then it is quite probable that your business won’t be able to maximise your potential success.
The reality? Most companies don’t have a powerful unique value proposition, which means they find it difficult to prospect effectively and up hold margins. It is not good enough to say ‘we offer quality’ – because that is what every other business does too (or so they say).
Value propositions need to be succinct, and self-explanatory – you don’t want prospects have to guess what value your service or product will offer them. So work out what your main differentiator is, and then back it up with how.
Why sell value?
Selling value is the one thing that all salespeople, operating without benefit of the lowest price, must be able to do well in order to consistently earn business.
In every market only one company will be able to sell product/a service by offering the lowest price – which may or may not result in substantial profits – but everyone else will have to sell on value. Your sales team has to be able to effectively convince people that buying their more expensive product/service is better because of “enter your value proposition here”. And if your value proposition isn’t convincing enough, then you won’t be able to sell based on value. End of story.
