Sales training ideas – 5 key areas to look at when competing.

Selling in today’s competitive environment requires us to sell value more than ever. When selling value, you want to focus on five key areas. 

5 pillars of selling value 

1) Product Efficiency

Where is your product or service better, faster, stronger, or more reliable than the competition’s? Does your machine turn out ten widgets per minute as opposed to the competition’s eight widgets? Does your machine have a faster printer or processor? Is there anything that your product produces more quickly than the competition’s product? 

Does your product have better uptime? Is it more reliable? Again, these can’t be vague items; you need to be able to quantify them. For example, if yours has more uptime, what are the actual percentages and how can you document those? What do the percentages mean in bottom-line dollars to the customer? Do your machines average 99.6 percent uptime versus the competition’s 97.2 percent and what are the time and dollar results of that? Are there any areas where your product or service is more reliable than the competition’s? 

Is your laundry service faster? Do you turn around dry cleaning in two days as opposed to three or four? Does your service show results more quickly than other methods available? Can your business deliver pizza in twenty minutes as opposed to thirty-five? If you’re a personal trainer, can you get people the results they’re looking for in six months as opposed to a year? Can you respond quicker and get people going faster? 

Is your product, or any of its parts, stronger or more wear-resistant than the competition’s? Do you use stronger, more wear-resistant steel or other alloy? Can your product handle one million flexes versus the competition’s 750,000? Do you have 1 terabyte of memory versus 500 megabytes? Is the signal on your communications lines stronger? Is anything about your product or service more powerful than the competition’s? 

The bottom line: where is your product or service better, faster, stronger, and/or more reliable? 

2) Your Company’s Efficiency

In what areas is your company more efficient than the competition? Do you fix equipment right the first time versus making two or three trips? Is your response time faster? Do you have a faster repair time? Are your repair people more experienced and better trained? Do you have more support? Are your technicians more customer-friendly? Test the bottom line again: Where is your company faster, better, or more efficient than your competition? 

3) Your Product or Service’s Longevity

Does your product, or anything associated with it, last longer than the competition’s? If so, how much longer? Do your machines last, on average, 33 percent longer than the competition’s machines? Does the motor inside your product last twice as long as the competition’s motor? Do your machine gears last longer? How about your warranty?  

Does your service, or anything associated with it, last longer than the competition’s? Is there any aspect of your cleaning, refurbishing, preparing, or repairing process that outlasts the competition? Do the items you clean stay cleaner longer due to your special process? Do the effects of your restoration process last longer? 

4) Cost

What aspects of your product or service are less expensive than your competition’s? Is the up-front cost of your product or service lower or is the long-term cost lower? Use the advantage you have. If you have both, exploit the heck out of them. 

In what areas is your service saving money for the end user? Does your service replace workers? Are costs such as maintenance, licensing fees, and other expenditures associated with your product or service less than the competition’s? For example, is your annual service contract less expensive? 

How about operating costs? Are less time and maintenance required with your product? Does it take employees less time to complete certain tasks with your machine? Does it take less time to shut down your machine at the end of the day? Does the toner cartridge get changed half as much as with the competition’s product? Do other supplies last longer in your machine and thus require less time and maintenance? Come up with the average amount of time it saves and then assign a dollar value to it based upon the hourly wage of the employee completing the task. 

Is your product or service easier for customers and/or employees to use? Where does this save the customer money and/or headaches? Here you’ll present the tangibles (time and money) and the intangibles (stress, worry, anxiety, etc.). 

If these associated costs are lower than the competition’s, present them to the prospect to consider in addition to the up-front cost of the product or service. 

Note: If your product costs more in any of these areas, why is that the case and are you selling that as a benefit? Do you have the largest service organization in the industry? Do you have a guaranteed response time? If you cost more, there is a reason. Find it and start selling it as added value. 

5) Other Ways in Which Your Product or Service Is Superior

Does it have more bells and whistles, more options, or more flexibility? Is protection of investment somehow built in? In other words, is your product upgradeable, or do you have a trade-in program that allows the present technology to be applied to future technology? In what other ways is your product or service “better” than the competition’s? 

What problems are you helping your customers solve and how are you doing it better than everyone else? Ask your customers this question. Why are they using your product and what do they like best about doing business with you and your company? If you have customers that used the competition, ask what they like better about you. 

What else do you have going for you that the competition does not? Do you have the most experienced, comprehensive support team in the industry? Do you have a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee? Are you the largest company in the industry? Is your company more financially stable than any of your competitors? Do you have the most familiar name in the industry? 

Here are some additional product and service questions to spark more value-building ideas in your imagination: 

• Does your product have fewer moving parts, resulting in fewer things that can go wrong?
• Does your product or service operate differently, making it more efficient, more cost effective, etc.?
• Can your product be upgraded? If you come out with a new feature or function, can that be added to a product your customers bought a year ago, or do they need to buy the new model to get the new feature? 
• Does your product have features that make it more secure and less prone to theft or security breaches such as attacks by hackers? 
• Does your product or service have extra safety features that protect the consumer? 
• Does your product or service exceed industry standards? 
• Is your product or service endorsed by any prominent organizations? 
• Are there any well-known individuals or companies that use your product? Name them, with their permission, of course. As well, use a testimonial and have them on your user list. 
• Has your product or service received any positive press or won any awards? 
• Does your product or service have more flexibility than the competition’s? For example, do you have two types of calling plans while the competition only offers one? Do you offer free additional lines? Can you operate in several different environments with several different frequencies? 
• Is your product easier for physically, visually, auditory, or mentally impaired individuals to use? 
• What individual features on your product or service stand out from the competition’s? Do you have a particular feature that is twice as reliable as the competition’s? 
• Do you use a different technology from the competition, and how is that technology superior? 
• Do you offer more choice? Do you have a more diverse product line or does your product as a whole offer more options? Do you adapt your product to the consumer’s needs or does the consumer have to adapt his or her needs to your product because of a lack of options?  

Note: Your overall objective is to be building and selling value thus doing everything you can to avoid dropping your price. Occasionally you may have to budge a bit on price to get the deal done, but do it only as a last resort. 

Focus on the five areas we’ve just discussed and you will find the road of selling against the competition much easier. And that’s good as competition is one of the most difficult challenges we will face when selling.