So, if customers don’t buy on price, what do they do?
Well, as the soft drinks man’s list, and your own list if you did one, will have shown, they buy on something else.
Mindset Shift No.1 is to Think Value, that’s why customers buy, you can read the blog about this, here.
Only when the benefits they get from the purchase outweighs the money they give you will they part with their cash, whether you sell directly to the public or to other businesses.
Many, many sales people fall into the trap of talking just features. They can explain in detail what their software does, or the different sizes of box, or what’s included in the price. In reality, buyers want to know how your offer solves a problem they have, or improves something for them.
A client of mine, Karen, runs a high-end fitness and wellbeing business. Karen came to me, as she was struggling to increase her instructor’s hourly rate. She just didn’t think people would pay more. She had a mindset-block about how much customers would pay for the services.
The first thing we did was to make a list of all the things Karen’s clients liked about her business. We began with the personal training offer. Karen started slowly, it was easy for her to list the features of her services. Few people are comfortable shouting about how good they are, especially to themselves.
But, with encouragement, the list became longer. Here are some of them:
The list was very long, and as Karen wrote it I saw her mindset change before my eyes. Her conversation with herself went something like this:
“Look at all this value we bring to our customers”
“They don’t get this from most trainers”
“We are worth so much to them”
“I can’t believe I was worried about putting the price up”
Karen had shifted the way she looked at pricing, fundamentally.
The other thing she noticed about her list was that some of the benefits were more tangible than others. Every business has two types of benefits:
- Physical Benefits – these are actual things the business delivers to customers. Karen’s clients could be sure that they would get to work earlier in the morning if they booked the first training slot in advance.
- Emotional Benefits – intangible things the business brings to customers. Karen’s clients get compliments and praise when they turn up at the wedding looking slim and healthy. Some of them experience life-changing transformations, in fact.
The penny dropped for Karen when she realised how powerful and valuable her well-being packages actually are to her clients.
We created three clear tiers of packages, with appropriate pricing to match their value.
We rewrote all Karen’s sales material and even planned out her blog content, based on the areas of emotional value for clients.
The hourly rate for Karen’s trainers went up by an average of 38% and she was one happy, and proud lady!
Mindset Shift No.2 Have pride in your benefits
Be proud of how well the benefits of your product or service help customers to solve problems and improve things.
Tips for Thinking Customer Value:
- For every feature of your offer, make sure there’s a benefit. A good way to do this is with a link phrase, such as ‘that means’. e.g. You can book a 06.00 slot in advance every week, which means you will be finished by 07.30, ready for work.
- Emotional benefits are powerful. They can link to basic human needs, like health, safety, long life and love. Find yours and link your benefits to the customer’s emotional needs, bringing value to customers in that area
- I often remind my clients to ‘stand tall and proud’ when giving the price for the huge value they bring to their customers.
Like the popular strapline “You’re worth it”.
Sales GROWTH Expert provides a range of services to bring external help to businesses that need to grow their own sales experts. Our aim is to support businesses, both small and large, to drive the value they bring to their customers, and the capability of their people to sustain it. For a copy of our latest ebook, PRICING-MINDSET MISTAKES AND HOW TO SHIFT THEM, email amanda@salesgrowthexpert.co.uk and we’ll send it to you.