Are You Selling Price?

One of the most important skills in today's real estate market is the ability to "create value in your product based on what is important to the consumer".  Don't confuse Price with Value ... that is what your competition is trying to do because they don't know any better.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so is value.  Grab a pencil and paper and get ready to take some great notes because the following article contains "valuable" information that can transform your sales results.

 

Who’s Making It About Price, You or the Customer?
by Mike Weinberg

Salespeople love to complain that all the customer cares about is the price. When we don’t get a deal, we’re quick to point to our higher price as a major cause of defeat. My friend Anthony Iannarino has written extensively on the topic of price, and he points out that this excuse is usually a lie we tell ourselves. I’d encourage you to link over and read several of his thought-provoking posts about price.

I’m really in tune with the whole price thing right now because one client asked for custom coaching content on selling against a lower-priced giant competitor. Another had me do a “success study” comparing behaviors and attitudes of their top-performers against those were weren’t doing as well converting leads. One of the big findings from that study was that those struggling with conversions viewed the lead as price shopping vs. reps who were more successful that took a consultative approach, assuming the prospect had a problem that needed to be solved. And a third client of mine is fighting an industry trend of declining prices. Their sales team is hyper-sensitive about being priced at a premium and I’m continually getting an earful from them about being competitive. So with all of that as backdrop, my antennae are up regarding price conversations and I’m disturbed by what I’m discovering:

More often than not, it’s the salesperson who is making it about price. 

Sometimes it’s intentional. Sometimes it’s just habit. Whatever the case, it’s killing them (and me). Time and time again I see the salesperson initiating the price conversation. It’s coming through in their attitude, in their approach to the customer, and in the words they are choosing.

Salespeople are supposed to be professional problem-solvers and value-creators. When we view ourselves as problem-solvers and take a consultative approach believing that our prospects potentially have problems or issues for which we have solutions, then price should be the last thing on our minds. But time and time again I hear salespeople fretting about their pricing, and starting telephone and face to face calls convinced that the prospect is hugely concerned with price. Recently I’ve heard: “give us an opportunity to look at this and we’ll see if we can save you some money.” Another told a prospect “I’d like to quote this for you and see if I can do better.”

What in the world, people? Why would we ever talk like that? Let me be blunt: If all you’re doing is selling price, then why do we need you? You bring NO VALUE as a price quoter. None. No value to your prospect and certainly, no value to your company. If all that matters is price, why don’t we just walk up and down the aisles of airplanes handing out price lists or put our pricing front and center on our websites? If it is indeed all about price, we’re all pretty much about out of a job.

Two very different sets of words that produce dramatically different outcomes:

I love when a salesperson asks great probing questions. I’ve believed for a long time that we can accomplish a whole lot more selling by asking great questions that demonstrate our expertise than we can with a slick presentation. Something magical and wonderful happens in the prospect’s mind when we ask insightful and penetrating questions. They see us as someone who can help them, and it positions us as that consultant and problem-solver I mentioned earlier.......continue reading