Hi, it’s Ben Lai from Sales Ethos. Today’s topic is “Be Valuable.” Value is the number one thing that we should be constantly thinking about in the profession of sales. There are many instances where we can constantly add value. I’m going to talk about three particular instances that may surprise you where we can add value to our clients.
Be Valuable at First Contact
The first time that we should be thinking about adding value is on the very first contact. Let’s just say you are prospecting for new business. You’re calling a company you’ve never spoken to before. Most of the time, people are going to try to shut you down because they think oh no, another salesperson. When you make the switch to thinking about promoting your products, and being self-centric to being of value to the other person, that’s going to completely transform the way that the person perceives you.
If you call and you say that I’m calling so that I can be of value to you and be more specific, such as I have some research that I’d like to share with you, or I have some ideas I’d like to share with you. These are the things that will signal to the other person that hey, this is not your typical sales person that’s going to try to shove a product on my throat. Look for ways to add value in the first contact.
Be Valuable During the Consultative Process
The next time that you can actually add value to the person is in your consultative sales process. In the process of asking questions about the person’s circumstances, you’re getting to know them, you’re understanding their goals and their problems, their pains and the games that they’re looking for. You can actually add value here by helping them to identify and to understand what their problems really are.
You’d be surprised that some people would be able to live with their issues that they have, and actually get used to them. They don’t realize how much those problems are costing them. Let’s just say that they have a morale problem. Sales training in my profession, one of the things that I have to deal with is a low morale. If they have a low morale that can be very costly for a business.
Low morale frequently leads to low performance and it also leads to turnover within the company. They have to spend 10s of thousands of dollars just to put a new hire in. That person takes three to six months to ramp up only for them to get turned over again. These are very costly things. Being able to help the client to identify what their problems are and to quantify their costs is a very valuable service that you can provide during the consultative process.
Be Valueable During Product Delivery
Now, the third one is a little bit more obvious. When you’re actually serving the client and they’ve purchased your product and they’ve decided to go ahead, that is the time to really ramp up the value that you are providing them. Here’s the thing, you have to deliver on all of your promises. You have to do everything within your power to make sure they’re actually achieving the results that were promised and go over and above those things to make sure that they are 100% happy. Do things that they’re not expecting.
If you promise, for example, that you’re going to have a touch point every month, maybe you want to have touch points in between so every two weeks instead of just every month. Or you may want to surprise them by providing additional advice or additional knowledge as part of the service at no extra charge or spend extra time with them. These are the opportunities for us to add incredible amounts of value to our clients.
Conclusion
Just to recap, be valuable on the very first content. Be valuable during the consultative process, and be valuable when the person actually decides to go ahead. These things put together will make you more effective as a salesperson and they’ll be much more likely to do business with you and to give you referrals.
Complimentary Consultation
If you happen to be a sales manager or an entrepreneur and you’re looking for ways to improve your sales, feel free to leave a comment below or follow the link for a one hour complimentary consultation. I’d be more than happy to add value to you and your organization whether you decide to do business with me or not. With that said, don’t forget to like and subscribe and remember that integrity plus skills equals success.
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Sales Ethos is the only provider of sales training for introverts. We also provide sales coaching, sales process consulting, and sales training in Melbourne & Adelaide.
Transcript by Rev.com