Introduction
As a founder, your job is to sell, and you'll need all the tricks in your arsenal if you want to survive. In today's world, every founder has their own unique selling style. Some are great at sales, while others can't surpass their fear of rejection. And then some are just plain wrong at it. Regardless of your category, there is no right way to sell, and everyone has specific tactics when making pitches or product presentations.
In this post we will treat the following ideas:
There is no right way to selling
Selling on Value - Game Changer
What is Value?
Customer Pain Points
Storytelling
There is no right way to sell.
Good salespeople know that there is no "right way" to sell. Sale is a process, not an event. Sales conversations are about relationships and finding solutions for customers that solve problems.
Building relationship is many times more important than selling products and presenting them. Understanding the pain, the value and the results your product or solution can bring is key to a relationship. Sometimes this makes the seller more of a consultant or advisor than an actual salesperson.
The best salespeople don't think about products or services; they believe in the Value they can provide to customers. The best salespeople don't focus on what they sell but on how they can help their customers solve problems or improve their situations through the product or services they offer.
In other words, it doesn't matter if your product costs $10 or $100 million when you're a good salesperson. If you can provide real value while solving your customer's problem, your deal will be done regardless of price point.
Selling on Value is the name of the game when selling to any enterprise.
It is essential to understand that selling on Value is the name of the game when you are selling any product or service. Selling on Value allows you to clearly communicate what your product or service has that no other competitor offers. Understanding why value-based is critical in this scenario will help you sell on Value more effectively, even with an enterprise or a start-up company.
This strategy works well because it helps customers know exactly what they are getting from purchasing your product. Your customers will also feel confident buying from someone who knows enough about their business so that they can provide better services than other companies do so.
How does one understand what "Value" is?
The first step in understanding what "Value" is is understanding the problem you are solving. You have to know where your customer is now and where they want to go. Once you know that, you can begin thinking about getting them from point A to point B.
The second part of this is understanding the customer's pain points concerning their current situation, as well as what it means for them if they succeed at reaching their goal. This allows us to look at what Value we are offering them by helping them reach said goal or breaking down barriers on their journey toward achieving it.
Finally, there's this thing called "delivering" Value, which means delivering results/getting things done on time/etc. (you get the idea). This should be an essential part of every company's process because customers will lose faith in your brand if something needs to be done right away. This is because they won't feel like they're being taken care of properly by an organization that cares about its people more than anything else - including money!
When you come across a potential customer, understand their pain points.
When you come across a potential customer, understand their pain points.
Here are some things to keep in mind - share stories of success and especially failure where someone like them has overcome it. The key here is to know your product inside and out and truly understand what a customer is going through so that you can build rapport with them.
When you understand their pain points, share stories of success and especially failure where someone like them has been able to overcome it.
When you understand their pain points, share stories of success and especially failure where someone like them has been able to overcome it.
Share stories of other companies that have overcome similar challenges.
Share stories of your failures (without being too negative or focusing on yourself). You could even share what happens if they take no action or choose an alternative solution. By doing so, you'll show that there are consequences associated with inaction and how the company can help mitigate these risks.
Finally, please discuss the benefits they can achieve using your product/service: time saved, increased productivity and efficiency, reduced risk factors, etc...
The key here is to know your product inside out and truly understand what a customer is going through.
But there's another trick that many marketers use, which has worked for me repeatedly.
"The key here is to know your product best and truly understand what the customer is going through."
Now, this may sound obvious, but it's often overlooked by people new to the industry. Because they are so familiar with their products or services, they tend to forget the problems customers go through when trying to solve those problems. So they focus on selling their products' features rather than considering how those features actually help others (or not).
But if you can truly understand how your product works concerning these pain points—and how it could potentially alleviate them—you'll have an advantage over other companies who don't do this properly because you will be able to more effectively communicate its value proposition through marketing messaging that resonates with your target audience.
Use appropriate stories and examples to illustrate the benefits of your product or service.
You may wonder how you can use stories and examples to illustrate your product's or service's benefits.
The first thing to keep in mind is that these stories should be relevant and specific to each customer. This means personalizing them by discussing how your product or service will help them specifically, not just generalizing it as something they'll need.
For example: "You mentioned you're trying to build a new website for your company - I know exactly what you mean! And guess what? We were able to help one of our clients do this successfully, so we're confident we can also help with yours! Of course, every project is different..."
The second thing is using examples of how others have been helped by using your services or products like we did above when describing our client who needed a website built for their company."
Conclusion
If you are selling to a business, Value is the name of the game. However, there are many pitfalls that people need to avoid when trying to sell on Value. The key is knowing your product inside and out, identifying pain points in potential customers' businesses, and truly understanding what they are going through. And always remember: "Bunnies, not crocodiles" - always listen to your customers. This is one of my favorite quotes on top of the one from "Hamilton - the Musical": "Talk less, smile more / Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for."
This applies 100% to sales of any kind. Listening allows you to gather valuable information on why your customer needs such a product or service. Then you can sell it to them based on their own values and metrics.