Episode 86: 4 Steps To Selling Value First: A Sales Transformation Guide

Aug 12

And most sellers lead with product features. And product features aren't a bad thing. Our clients and our prospects need to know this info. They need to know the options available to them. First, you need your prospect to understand why they even need a fire pit. Most of us sell things that people do not need.

They don't need to hire a travel agent. They don't need a fancy software tool. So we first have to demonstrate why they need the product or service.

Hello and welcome to Prospecting on Purpose. Before we get started with today's episode, I want to give a small shout-out to five countries where we've been hanging out on the top charts to the listeners in the United Kingdom, Canada, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Macau. I want to say thank you very much for listening.

Thank you for sharing the show. We actually hit number one in Macau and the entrepreneurship category of podcasts and number four in the business category. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you for leaving reviews, and sharing the show. It's very surreal to be able to connect with people from all over the globe.

And I feel very blessed to be able to do that. I know that sometimes things can look bleak and the internet can sometimes be a dark place, but I like that we all get to hang out and see the cool light happy side of the internet and focus it on a way that brings people together. And the types of like resources and reach and connection that we're able to achieve and, hopefully all feel better about the type of work that we're doing too.

That's of course, the goal of the show. So thank you so much for listening to Prospecting on Purpose. I am really excited about today's episode because it covers something that is very important to me. And I think my personal success, it's what I teach in my workshops, but it's really what differentiates, I think, top performers versus, you know, run-of-the-mill sales and marketing individuals.

And it's really this concept of selling value over features and really how in a business-to-business environment. How to turn our product or service into a profit center for our clients. But then in a business-to-consumer environment, it's how are we elevating and impacting their lives with our product?

So what do I mean by this? In a nutshell, one of the biggest ways that we can stand out from our competition in a B2B sales environment is to establish ourselves as a consultative seller, and that's by really demonstrating how our product or our service adds value to their business. So a very easy way to frame this is how my product or service makes my client money or saves my client money.

So when we start to frame our presentations this way, it also naturally takes on a storytelling approach, which makes it easier for people to, A, say yes to our meetings, B, remember what we're talking about, we're talking about. And then C, sell it on our behalf when we're not in the room. I'm going to go through an example.

I know I've used this in the past, but it's very straightforward, which is why I like it. And when you listen to these three sections, we're going to break down here. I want you to think about how it applies to your product, your service, and your business, in whatever role you have. So in this example, we're selling a fire pit and I'm going to give you the product features first.

Then I'm going to give you a business-to-business model example, a business-to-consumer example. And then we're going to end the episode with four steps on how to really extrapolate this and do this for your own products or your own businesses. So we're going to start with this beautiful fire pit that we're selling.

And this fire pit is made of a weatherproof material. It's made out of concrete, so it's a really beautiful architectural design. It's available in a black or a stone finish. It can burn propane, natural gas, or bioethanol, which is an alcohol-based fuel. The heat output ranges from 18, 000 to 26, 000 BTUs.

This stands for British thermal units. That's how we measure heat. You can use lava rock or fire glass. There's an optional windscreen if you have little kids, or if you're concerned about liability, or if you're in a high-wind area, it's UL-rated for code compliance. Oh, you're asking about the fuel. Well, propane tanks are around 50 a tank.

Bioethanol runs around 25 a gallon. This unit takes 2 gallons. So it's the same price as propane. Okay. And on and on and on, right? You get the point. And so now, not only is my prospect not retaining any of this, but now because he asked about fuel prices and I answered his direct question, he's taking out his calculator to see how expensive it's going to be to run this fire pit.

And really, we almost talked ourselves out of the deal because we bogged the decision-maker down with so many facts and information. And maybe he was asking us for those pieces of information and we're answering these questions thinking we're really crushing it because we know our products so well, but we are not.

Because at the end of the day, the product really doesn't matter. It does, of course, but not at the beginning of the sales cycle. And most sellers lead with product features. And product features aren't a bad thing. Our clients and our prospects need to know this info. They need to know the options available to them.

First, you need your prospect to understand why they even need a fire pit. Most of us sell things that people do not need. They don't need to hire a travel agent. They don't need a fancy software tool. So we first have to demonstrate why they need the product or service. And then we need to demonstrate why they need us as their partner.

And then once we've solidified those two things, then we can start talking about product features. At the beginning, the product doesn't matter. And if we can shift this to how it's going to impact their business or their lives first, then everything else in the sales cycle becomes much more seamless. So here are two examples of how we can sell this fire pit.

And I'm going to use a couple of product facts here, but I'm going to weave them into a business model conversation. In a B2B environment, We're going to be selling this fire pit to a hotel. Hey, Mr. Hotel owner, this fire pit is going to make you money because it's a marketable amenity feature. You're going to be able to advertise it on your website.

So when people are deciding between you and a competitive property, they're going to see, Hey, this property has fire pits. You're going to give guests an area to gather on-site. You mentioned that you have to clear the pool deck frequently because it doubles as a private event space. Well, what's awesome about this is two of the three fuel offerings that we have as part of our product line, don't require a hard gas line.

So you're going to be able to move those fire pits when you have a private party. And if you do use one of those more flexible fuel types and operating costs, this is a question I get a lot. It will probably run you about 40 a night to operate, which let's be honest, you're going to make in the first round of drinks because you're giving people a place to hang out and spend food and beverage dollars on your hotel property.

We're using storytelling. We're getting ahead of objections. We're creating a business case for our product on his pool deck. In a B2C environment, let's say we're selling this fire pit to a homeowner. Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, when we first connected, you mentioned that you're revamping your backyard patio and I asked you what your vision was.

You shared with me that your home is often the gathering place for your three kids and their families and grandkids. A fire pit is an amazing way to create memories in the backyard. You know, not only are you giving people a place to gather, but you're also adding a light. Source outside your ass. You're adding a heat source outside.

You're adding a design element to your yard. You're already spending this money. Why wouldn't you want to make sure that it's really going to fit the needs of you and your family? The homeowners do not care about BTUs yet. They don't care about fire glass versus lava rock yet. They care about how it's going to add value to their lives and the lives of their family.

To truly differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to start thinking in this lens. How is it impacting their business? How is it impacting their lives? So here are four steps to help you identify how to lead with this mindset. So step one, I recommend you just brain-dump everything you can think of around your product or your service.

So this does, of course, include all of the product features facts, and perceived benefits. Where do people use your product or service? What type of applications or what type of verticals? What type of industries? Another powerful thing to include in this brain dump is to document any type of customer feedback, positive or negative feedback.

So think about past stories you've heard from users and stories you've heard from clients. Maybe start asking your clients for stories and feedback. Just dump it all out in a brainstorming document. And this is where we can list out some product facts like There are three different fuel types to this fire pit.

That is a product feature, yes. However, the goal of this exercise is to figure out why that product feature impacts our prospect's business. Like my hotel pool deck doubling as an event space. Now, having three fuel choices as a business benefit, I'm giving him the power of choice and the ability to add something that fits into their business operations.

Otherwise, he doesn't care about the three different field types unless we make him care about it. Step two is to identify all of the stakeholders. Think about all of the different people who will be interacting with your product or your service. What are their roles? This does not have to be someone who's making the purchasing decision.

It can be an end user. In our hotel example, maybe it's The guests who are staying at the hotel, they are interacting with the fire pit. Maybe it's the homeowner's grandchildren coming over to visit and hang out in the fire pit. We may have to be able to speak to kids interacting with our product. So think about everyone who may be interacting in the product or service and write down their roles.

And then step three, ask yourself, or if you don't know these answers, maybe ask your client or your end user these questions, but start to think of motivations or business specifics for their specific business and jot down for each of the stakeholders. So I'm going to list out a couple of questions here that you can start to ask.

In a B2B environment, you can ask yourself, how does your client's business go to market? Who are their clients? What type of projects do they work on? What are their areas of expertise? How do they make money? What sales channels do they focus on? How do they purchase from us? What's their work structure?

Are they in-person, remote, or hybrid? Who are the key decision-makers? What are their pain points? What are the company values, missions, or principles? Those are some questions you can start asking, really understand. What they truly care about. And then from a B2C environment, you might want to ask yourself, how does your client or ideal client spend their time?

Why does this fit into their life? What are their pain points? What motivates them? What are their values their passions or their principles? And my last question to share is what's their vision for the future? At this point, we have three lists going. So, the last one is our brain dump document, product features and benefits, customer feedback, etc.

Our second list is who is interacting with our product or service. Who are the stakeholders? Reminder, this does not have to be a decision-maker. It could be an end user of our product. And then the third list that we're looking at is our business model, the client's business model. Or client's motivations.

And so then now we have our three different lists going, we're going to start to match up the features and benefits and how they impact which stakeholder and why in the end, you may have many lists. So hotel owner, guests, and staff, or husband, wife, kids, and grandkids, or landscape designer, retail showroom, vice president of sales, head of HR.

Marketing coordinator versus VP of marketing. Like, start to identify who you work with and who needs to care. And then how does this fit into their roles? How is it going to make them money or save them money? I'd suggest making this a client-facing document and using it as a sales tool. But even if you just have this outlined as an internal cheat sheet for yourself, you're going to start to get more comfortable pivoting your conversations.

For who's in front of you and what they actually care about. And this is really, I think what separates the varsity team from your regular run-of-the-mill salesperson. So to summarize, focus your conversations on how your product makes your client money or saves your client money. How does it positively impact their business or their lives?

This comes first. The product comes second. And then the four tips to start doing this are brain dump everything, identify the stakeholders, reflect and understand their client's business or their life motivations, and fourth, match up those value messages to the appropriate stakeholders, and then start to shift your conversations accordingly.

That wraps up today's episode. If you enjoyed this topic, I have a deeper dive keynote around this concept for Sales kickoffs, national sales meetings, or company offsites. If you feel it'd be a fit for your organization, please feel free to email me for more information at Sarah at SarahMurray. com or you can check on my website, SarahMurray.

com forward slash speaking. Thanks so much for tuning in and I'll see you next week.

Thank you so much for listening to the Prospecting on Purpose podcast. If you loved what you heard today, subscribe to the podcast and please rate and leave a review for more info on me. Or if you'd like to work together, feel free to go to my website, SaraMurray. com on social media. I'm usually hanging out at Sarah Murray sales.

Thanks again for joining me and I'll see you next time.