Finding Your Value

“I still need to provide for my family so how can the expectation be to not sell?”

“I am hearing experts say now is not the time to be marketing, but others say it is. Which is it?”

“How can I engage prospects during this time without coming across as tone deaf?”

Many questions like these have popped up on social channels, with a variety of answers. As the majority of businesses are experiencing a jarring transition, these questions are understandable. The instinct is to push forward, even if a strategy has yet to be formulated.

Instead of the questions above, this may be the key question to answer: Is my company providing value or merely a product?

Why Value Is The Differentiator

There is old adage in sales. If your product or service addresses a current problem, you are solving rather than selling. When markets shrink and economic conditions become less favorable, this difference becomes even more critical.

Showing value means truly understanding your customers’ current needs and how your product or service addresses those needs. If your sales team is struggling to communicate value, they may need to step back to find it.

Opening Space To Find Value

The call came in last week - a company wanting to schedule time to demonstrate their platform. While there was a resistance to discussing a product that would increase marketing spend, I scheduled the demonstration. Being open to the conversation provided space to discover value within my agency offering.

During the call, our discussion shifted to how this company was positioning itself to show value. As we chatted, a memory came rushing back.

My agency developed a Resource Review process after the 2009 recession. This process uses a tested methodology to identify opportunities for optimization without putting revenue goals in jeopardy.  

Over the last few years, the economy was growing and businesses were booming, so this process took a back seat. With the current economic situation, companies will assess spending to make sure every resource is running at maximum efficiency, making this process a critical one.

Being open to a conversation provided the space to see my agency’s services from a different angle. There was hidden value waiting to be discovered.

The Value Litmus Test

In the medical profession, there is an education philosophy: See one. Do one. Teach one. Students see a procedure, learn that procedure by doing, and then test that learning by teaching it to someone else. 

Are you able to teach your value to your customers? If the value cannot be explained, there is a chance you are stuck in the old communication pattern of selling versus solving.

My agency’s Resource Review, for example, provides value in several distinct ways. Senior executives have evidence-based guidance on where budget optimization should be made. The marketing team retains appropriate resources that take into account revenue goals and strategic work to date. And both groups are brought into conversation with each other (and can be completed 100 percent virtually).

Take Action. Find Value.

While business is slower, there is time to conduct a thoughtful review of your product or service in terms of value. During economic growth, there is very little incentive to do so. Looking at your business with a fresh perspective will help define your value.

By identifying and understanding that value, communication will go beyond selling to creating opportunity for your current and future customers. And hopefully, with that value communicated, the question you will be hearing will be:

 “How soon can you get started?”