True Value Creation And Your Customers - An Alternative To Close More Sales

Communicating VS Creating Value

Sales forces have justified their existence by communicating the value of their products and services. If a sales rep communicated product/service information and functionality to customers, the conventional thinking deemed those actions as value creation in the selling process, because the customer was educated and learned how they could benefit by using a particular solution or service. The problem with this feature approach of communicating value is caused by the decline in differentiation between products and services. With prevalent commodification in many industries (let me pick in particular on the building automation industry), the communicated benefits matter much less to customers. Value migrates from the solution to the price and a competitive procurement process.

So, sales forces must go beyond communicating the value of features a company or solution provides, and finding ways to create new value by thinking outside the box. To create value companies need to find ways to increase the ability to deliver "well differentiated benefits". The problem is that a great deal of value propositions presented are canned, and unique benefits that translate into great value are uncommon. To this end, it is not enough that sales leadership commit themselves to a value creation agenda. They must know what it is that they are committed to - that is, what they must do. These obligations cannot be delegated, and action is required. Some ideas on how to work smart and establish a true value creation agenda include:

Target and engage customers early in the sales cycle to be able to influence the outcome, and not be reactive to opportunities at the 11th hour.

Train sales force on problem solving skills and proper selling approach to diagnose problems and needs well.

Institute account management disciplines for high potential and high penetration customers.

Find ways to reduce cost though Six Sigma initiatives that include the entire value chain, and not just the supply chain.

Implement "Lean Enterprise" initiatives to further reduce costs and translate those saving into competitive advantage, or new sources of gross margin.

Web enable progress, and value reports to communicate the implementation of solutions/services.

Invest time and resources on face-time spent with customers to build better bonds.

Apply Gaps Model of Quality to services marketing initiatives to further differentiate services.

Train leadership on common and special cause variation to gain knowledge on value creation and the removal of high performance barriers.

Matching Strategy to Customers

Having a proper model for customer segmentation vis-à-vis value creation is essential, so that resource allocation is not an impediment to selling efforts. Huthwaite makes a compelling case for how value migrates depending on the customer. So, who are transactional, consultative, and enterprise customers? That is the known unknown that even well trained and talented sales forces and managers have to figure out. How many times have you seen a heavy investment in selling effort turn out to be a losing proposition? This can be the result of misplaced attention on trying to persuade a customer with very clear ideas on a transaction, where the value is low cost and no more. Time must be taken to understand how the customer defines value, and how to generate new insights by diagnosing problems and needs. The answer at times is to walk away by recognizing that you can not be everything to all customers, and using limited time and company resources to work on higher probability projects.

Interestingly, a failure mode of sales organizations is not recognizing that different approaches to selling are needed for different customers. The research by Huthwaite points out that when there is a value perception misfit no amount of selling skill, clever strategy, or well-crafted value proposition can bridge the gap between what a customer wants and what a supplier has to offer. In today's environment customers demand more value than ever, so it's imperative that a sales force must align its values with those of the customer. Sales forces must learn to further segment customers according to the way they perceive and define value.

Traditionally sales forces have survived well by dividing customers by geography, size, vertical market, or specific products and services. However, as the world of sales continues to evolve the advantages of classifying sales efforts under the headings of transactional, consultative, and enterprise is not an option anymore if you want to win more sales. A sales force that creates new value by addressing accurately how a customer measures value, or brings a new consultative element of knowledge that can help a customer improve their business metrics will be in a better position to win against a less sophisticated competitor. Unless the approach to creating value corresponds with the needs and value perception of customers, selling efforts will continue to languish in sales organizations lacking leadership to get with the times.

How To Show Appreciation To Your Clients Without Breaking Your Budget

Let's face it. We know that our clients and customers like to fee appreciated by us. Yet, how many times do we neglect to seize an opportunity to show appreciation to our clients and customers? And how many times do we use the excuse that we do not have money in our budget to do something special for them? What a non-strategic thinking and short-sighted view that thinking presents. What about the life time value of our clients and customers? Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach is letting you know that you do not have to spend a significant amount of money to show appreciation to your clients and customers and see a good return on your investment from increased satisfaction and loyalty.

So, what are some of the ways you can exhibit appreciation to your clients and customers without breaking your budget? Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach offers the following ten (10) positive and proactive actions to do show that appreciation without significant costs.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #1: Say and send a thank you.
The more personalized the thank you the better. My most preferred method is a handwritten thank you.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #2: Provide rapid response to complaints. You have an opportunity to turn complaints into compliments and increase the client and customer loyalty in a major way.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #3: Empower employees to make your clients and customers feel special. This should include customer service training to make sure the employees are equipped to ensure a positive experience for the client or customer with each interaction.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #4: Ask your clients and customers what they think. Ask them their opinions and feedback n your services and products. Develop a specific customer feedback program and make them feel special to be selected to participate.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #5: Develop and implement some form of customer loyalty reward system. This could be a gift, a discount or some other token of appreciation to reinforce your appreciation for their business.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #6: Support your client and customer businesses. This could be in the form of a personal referral to and/or recommendation of their business from you.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #7: Provide a convenient source of information about your business and its products and services for your clients and customers. This can be facilitated by making it easy for your clients and customers to find information through your company website.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #8: Use a company newsletter to regularly communicate with your clients and customers and with their permission, include something about your clients and customers.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #9: Develop and implement a customer relationship management system. Use this system to send greetings at holidays and special occasions with a personalized message. And avoid a sales pitch in these contacts.

Positive & Proactive Appreciation Action #10: Take away any frustrations of doing business with your company. Ask your clients and customers what you can do to make it easier to do business with you and them review the best suggestions to implement.

Your strategic thinking business coach encourages you to fully realize the benefits of business coaching to help you provide positive and proactive appreciation to your clients and customers without breaking your budget. If you would like to learn more about how a strategic thinking business coach can facilitate and guide you in that endeavor, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com

Why Advertise?

A lot of businesses advertise, but I often wonder if some of them know why they are doing it. Take the time to look around this week, as you do your grocery shopping, run the kids to hockey practice, and whatever else you do. Who is advertising in your area, and how? If you really pay attention, you'll see some advertising done so badly it may as well not even be there at all. If you had to look to find it, or force yourself to read it, it's probably ineffective.

Here are the top 3 reasons to advertise


• Awareness


• Differentiation


• Image

Awareness is probably the most important reason to advertise. If people don't know who you are, what you do, or what your services are, then you aren't going to have very many customers. You have to let people know that you are out there.

Differentiation. What makes you different from the guy down the street providing similar services or selling the same product? You have to work at motivating people to come to you, do business with you, rather than the competition. Show people the difference between your product/service and what the competition has on offer; give them a reason to come to you and to return later on.

The final reason is image. People want to do business with companies that they know and trust. Image is how others see your company, its products and/or services. Without a positive image, the previous two reasons to advertise don't matter all that much.

Keep these reasons in mind when creating copy for your business and get the most for your advertising dollar. Better yet, hire a professional. They can get you noticed, and get you the results you want.