WHY do we Communicate Value?

Those of you that saw my latest video on communicating value (Adding Value video) will know that recently my mindset got blindsided, I received news affecting me in a way that I didn't expect. I followed up on a prospect I met some months ago, seemed like a promising opportunity for me, the director was torn between running the company and keeping his hand on training his new sales recruit. A gift opportunity for a sales consultant:

"Enlist me to train your staff, you can run the company and hire some more sales and implementation staff when we're done because you'll need them at that time and together we will make this company fly!"

I made the rookie mistake of taking the director - being self-proclaimed at 'good at sales' - at his word and didn't feel it necessary to follow through to show the value I had to give and highlight WHY there was a NEED to utilise my service.

There was no urgency created which I would normally raise, there was a finite amount of passion for my service transferred which almost dissipated before we next spoke a few weeks later. By that time his schedule had clouded and he hit me with the common objection:

"I can't fit you in just now, call me at the start of next month"

Then his budget got drained...and then: at the last agreed time to follow up he informed me he had just signed insolvency papers and was going out: "To get a job", the entrepreneurs kiss of death; I felt like I had just been handed a Black Spot like Billy Bones at the start of Treasure Island. I had nothing invested in the company: I didn't stand to lose anything from this turn of events but I was at that time powerless to avert something which maybe I could have done if I had been more adamant that he needed my help in the beginning.

Let's just look at the two objections given to me - well excuses or complaints rather than objections: 1: Time and 2: Cost (before he even knew what my price is I might add). If I had said to the prospect when we first met that I have an unclaimed winning lottery ticket from last week to sell for ￡10,000 and I want to have a meeting this week to discuss selling it to you, would I have received either complaint? NO! He would have made time to fit me in and begged, borrowed or worse to find the money for the ticket - anyone would, even those who don't want to WIN the money because they would rather MAKE IT (my kind of people!!!) would because what couldn't you do with a few million in the bank? Of course that meeting would never, ever happen to anyone, but the concept is about the idea of value, the value in a winning lottery ticket is obvious, but with a product or a service you have to highlight it to potential customers. If I had transferred enough buying impulse and energy to the customer, and then followed up straight away brandishing more value that I have to give it would have been a different story, but because I allowed him the space to decide when he was ready it has hit us both...HARD. As I mentioned in an earlier article (Value Vs Price Article) I wrote which I have borrowed this diagram from:

where the yellow Star represents the first point at which somebody will buy from you when perceived Value moves above the price, I was happy for the amount of time to be longer with this prospect, when actually I wasn't the only person that was impacted by that decision.

I mentioned my mindset took a blow from this event, which it did, and it is therefore necessary to highlight the importance of Sales Attitude at this point. I was devastated at the fate of that company in a world where businesses unfortunately collapse every day. But my mindset, my sales attitude is constantly being nurtured and polished and strengthened. The chain on your bike won't work if you leave it out in the rain: It needs oiling and covering/putting in the garage or even changing if you need to make a big difference, otherwise it will rust and seize or snap. Your sales attitude underpins everything in business, it's a companion along for the ride that needs treating as such and be looked after so when something happens like this event to me...you haven't got far to go to recover...what did I do? Started work the next day and booked meetings with two new prospects to show them the VALUE I can give them and WHY they have a NEED to let me help them Smash their glass roof and achieve the un-achievable. There is no glass roof, you've got to break the very idea of a glass roof because with every product or service if people need it you can reach 5 figures...6 figures and even 7 figures and beyond, look at Cadburys, and they sell chocolate bars for 50p...talk about low ticket sales!! Whatever you sell, you can reach those heights. The only person putting a lid on how high you can go is YOU, so remember my acronym: Business-owners Can Pass Infinity: B.C.P.I. Believe, Commit, Plan and Implement and you will go far...FACT. HOW you do that is all about communicating the value you have to give, its making people aware of WHY they need to buy your product, WHY they can't live without your service, WHY taking the offer you have today will change their future and that you should by all rights be charging more based on the value they will receive from it...forget discounting things.

Next Steps:

• Figure out HOW to communicate your product or service like its an unclaimed winning lottery ticket from last week.
• Treat your next prospect meeting like without your product/service they could go out of business (5 top tips for sales meetings)
• Stop thinking your business has a glass roof and reach for the stars and beyond.

and if you need help with that, book a free discovery session from the SME Skills Academy because if you don't believe...we do.