18 Ways to Sell Value Instead of Price

When faced with a price lower than yours in a competitive situation, try using one or more of the following points to promote your value. It may save the sale and profit dollars.

1. Don’t get panicky. Hold the conviction that your price is right. Fear of price is the weakest point in selling. Be confident, and your customer will have more respect for you.
2. Get all the facts. Check the quantity, quality, and service being compared.
3. Ask the customer to be reasonable. Persuade them to make allowances for differences in your specifications or service that justify your price.
4. Be reasonable yourself. Demonstrate the difference between price and value. Always avoid an argumentative attitude. Talk about the benefits the customer will receive instead.
5. Sell your company. Emphasize all the good points about your company—its history, personnel, and reputation. Discuss your sales points one by one. Remember, professional, proactive, and positive salesmanship can win over price.
6. Find out if the customer is bluffing. Check to see if the lower price is real or an assumed belief of the buyer. Sometimes a competitive price was never quoted by the competition.
7. Find out why the price is lower. Find the vulnerable spot in the competitive price—it’s nearly always there.
8. Modify the specifications, if possible. Then you and your competitor are not figuring on the same thing.
9. Ask how much inventory. Inventories in local warehouses enable the customer to carry less inventory on the floor. Is vendor-managed inventory something to consider? Is it a factor in the cost/price?
10. Sell what you have. Feature your designs, quality, special products or services, and those other things you do that no competitor can duplicate.
11. Expand the specifications. This will shift the basis of comparison.
12. Sell your service. Emphasize the advantage of dealing with a reputable company that backs up its products with good service.
13. Check the products. Find out potential ways being used to cut back on the quality of the product.
14. Discuss the product. Make the customer understand that someone can always build an inferior product to a price; that inferior merchandise is never a bargain.
15. Cite examples. Sometimes it makes sense to give the customer examples of people who bought on price alone.
16. Examine the competition. Ascertain whether a mistake has been made in your company’s or your competitors’ estimates. By taking corrective action, you may make a friend.
17. Be flexible. Adjust your quantities, qualities, and service to those of the competition and refigure.
18. Think of the future. Consider the ethics and future implications of reducing or not reducing your price.

George Moretti is president of GM Training & Consulting Group. He can be reached at 716-909-1177 or gmtcg@roadrunner.com.