Reman U
- Author: Patrick Gerbyshak
- Subject Matter: Management
- Issue: Selling value
My first thoughts when a customer asked this were, “Great. I don’t have the power to lower the price. How am I going to make this sale?” So, to my boss’ office I’d go. I’d knock, explain the situation, and use my skills to make the best case on my customer’s behalf for why they should have a lower price. He’d chuckle, shoo me out, and tell me to go make the sale.
I’d get back to my phone and explain to Mr. Customer that I’d tried, but his price was firm. He’d thank me for trying, promise to give me a shot at the next one, and hang up.
Click!
This went on for several weeks. And after about a month, my boss called me into his office, sat me down, looked at the numbers and asked me, “Is that the best you can do?”
Needless to say, I was getting sick of that question. I decided I needed a good way to answer it and quickly. I grabbed some resource guides, marketing material, and waited to be asked again.
On the next call, my customer said those fateful words after I had quoted him next day delivery and his price. I figured I didn’t have much to lose and grabbed a spec sheet.
“Sir, let me tell you what that price includes…”
I’m sure it isn’t a surprise to you that in that case, I made the sale. So what changed? I started selling value. I realized that even if it felt silly reading information to my customer verbatim, they didn’t know how many different things we’d done to our product that our competitors didn’t.
Selling value is easy once you’re in the habit. Here are some great ways to start (if you’re new, or a veteran who could use a tune-up):
- Ask questions. Was a product recently updated? Talk to your technical team about why. Did a teammate land a new account that your company only dreamed of working with a few years ago? Talk to them about what made it happen.
- Listen. When you’re talking to your customers, listen to more than what is being said. Sure, they might be asking about price but why are they asking that? Is it because they were ripped off somewhere else in the past?
- Study up. If you’re like us, your company probably has advertisements, marketing materials and videos already in existence. And if you’re like us, your competitors do, too. Check them out for what’s similar, different and useable.
There are plenty of ways to get in the habit, but these are just a few ideas. The importance is that you find your value and start making sales.
Patrick Gerbyshak is a Customer Loyalty Specialist at ETE REMAN and part of the Reman U author team. Reman U is a free e-newsletter that delivers best practices, lessons learned and tricks of the trade to help build a better transmission business.
