Today's article comes from sales trainer Tom Reilly. It's about the importance of reminding your customer of your value. Very interesting!
A standout difference of Value-Added Selling is the emphasis we place on defensive selling—the retention and growth of your existing base of business. We know from our research that top-achieving salespeople invest most of their selling time in this mode.
One defensive selling strategy is value reinforcement—the sale after the sale. It involves documentation and value reminding. The objective is to remind the customer of the value that you deliver. No one gets the credit that he deserves; he only gets the credit that he asks for. As most people are unaware of the air that they breathe, most customers are unaware of the value that they receive. This is why you must remind the customer of all the great things that you do for them.
Positive bragging is an important part of this value-reminding strategy. There is a gracious way to do this and a less gracious way to do this. Let's begin with the latter: "Mr. Customer, look at all the great stuff we have done for you this past year." Some salespeople shy away from this because they feel it is too braggadocios, too seller focused. Another and more tasteful way is to remind the customer of the success that they have experienced because of your value. Brag about the customer's success: "Mr. Customer, it is great to see how you have increased productivity since installing our system. We're thrilled to play a role in your success." It is more subtle, but the customer will get the point, and you will get the credit.
Tom Reilly is the president of Tom Reilly Training. He is an authority on value-added selling, and speaks to thousands of salespeople and managers annually on increasing their value to their company and customers.
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