How Not To Sell High Value Products & Services

Posted by Gavin Ingham on July 26, 2010 · 2 Comments 

At the back end of the year last year I moved house and over the last few months we have been gradually putting our own touches to the house. I don’t have a lot of time (what with speaking at sales conferences and writing sales books and audios) and I don’t do things myself and I am very much of the belief that if I can pay someone to do something and I can get on with my life then that’s great. This makes me something of a salesperson’s dream because if the deal’s right I don’t shop around and I will make a decision fast… and not one based on price either.

Or so I thought…

One of the things we need are some fitted cupboards for one of the bedrooms. It’s not a room we use and it’s not the main visitor’s room so it really is a case of find a good company and get it done. We ideally wanted to support a local company so when we saw a company with signage on one of the local roundabouts we rang them and they offered to send a “salesperson” around.

A few days later Steve, I have changed his name to protect the totally inept and ridiculously incompetent, arrived at the house. He was scruffy, his clothes were tired (jeans, trainers, t-shirt) and he looked a little dirty! He had no interpersonal skills and his sole “sales pitch” was to measure the wall (‘cause you know, I can’t do that) and then tell us to go to the showroom. Every question of any kind was met with the answer, “I dunno. You’ll have to go to the showroom!”

He left.

Now, at this point, I really should have cut my losses but, determined to support a local company and interested in what the showroom sales experience would be like, we did venture there on Saturday. Not a good decision! They had no idea who we were and made no attempt to find out anything about us or tell us anything about the company or their products. They simply quoted a ridiculously high figure and then let us walk out after I pointed this out to them (to which I got no response).

Now I was telling a friend about this this morning and he said, “Well, I thought you said it wasn’t about price, it was about value?” Well, yes, I did and I do and he was right, but there wasn’t any. Value cannot just be assumed because you decide it is so. Value has to be uncovered, value has to be built up, value has to be understood and value has to be about the customer, not you.

So I thought that it would be fun to look at how not to do it, so here follow 7 Rules For How Not To Sell High Value Products & Services.

  1. Pay no attention to your personal appearance, dress and cleanliness.
  2. Build no rapport with your prospects  – business, personal or otherwise.
  3. Don’t ask any questions about what is important to your customers.
  4. Don’t bother understanding what your prospects want or need.
  5. Make no attempt to explain what is special, unique or bespoke about your services and products.
  6. Don’t follow up on enquiries and fail to follow any proven sales process.
  7. Let your customers think that you don’t care and you’re not interested.

I’d like to say that I’d give them another try in the future but I doubt they’ll be there. Whoever is in charge of their business needs to do some sales training fast.

Talking about selling on value not price is one thing, doing it is totally another.

Filed under Gavin's rants, Prospecting & cold calling, Sales presentations, Sales training, Stories · Tagged with , , , ,

Why I Bought Private Medical Care And Why You Should Sell On Value And Never On Price

Posted by Gavin Ingham on April 17, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

One of the messages that us sales trainer types have been very good at getting across over the last few years is the motto of selling on value and not on price. In sales training seminar after sales training seminar around the country sales managers, sales directors and sales trainers keep banging on about value being key not price! As such, when I ask the question, all salespeople are quick to say that we should sell on value and not price.

So why then do they rush to discount so fast? And moan about how their competitors are under cutting them? And whine that their products aren’t any better than their competitors?

Because most salespeople don’t believe that people don’t buy on price – they just say it.

Saying that value is more important than price when selling is not enough. You actually have to believe it. If you don’t really believe it, when the chips are down… you’ll discount! Isn’t it about time that salespeople started being a bit more honest with themselves? If you don’t really believe that you can sell on value then you need to admit it. Only by admitting this can you start to build up the value of your product or service in your own mind.

Private healthcare gave me value for money…

I have recently been into hospital for a one day operation. In the UK the NHS and the private doctors are one and the same by enlarge. Infact, private consultants are normally rushing to get to you after finishing their NHS clients. So the product is identical. OK, so I got my own room but given that all I did was doze in it for 45 minutes before and a couple of hours afterwards that hardly mattered. I waited 6 weeks for a procedure because some drugs had to kick in first for a few weeks. This meant that going private was probably no quicker than the NHS.

So it was no quicker, I had the same consultant and I was barely in the hospital. I have no insurance so I paid for it myself. Can’t have provided value can it?

Yes! Yes! And Yes!

Value is in the eye of the beholder. Had I gone to Bradford Royal Infirmary the staff would have been professional and polite but in essence I would have been rolled in and rolled out. They are understaffed, overworked and trying to keep up. At the private hospital I was "meeted and greeted", the nurses introduced themselves to me, the surgeon came to see me (twice) before and even the anesthetist popped his head in! When I woke up the nurse was by my bedside and prepared to chat to me. I was worried about the operation and to me this 121 time was worth the money.

Value can only ever be dictated by the client and their circumstances.

I am sure that many people reading this blog would say, "The hell with paying thousands for a chat" but in my mind it was money well spent and I am the customer.

The only way to build up your beliefs about value is understand your customers better. Keep case studies and compile them. Really know how you add value to individual customers. If you leave this to chance you will not truly believe the real value of your products, services or solutions.

What strategies do you have for maintaining your belief about the value of your offerings?

Filed under Motivation & mindset, Negotiation & objection handling, Sales training · Tagged with , , , , ,