3 Tricks to Building Value When You Sell

If you want to set yourself up for failure, pitch features. If you want to be successful, focus on the end outcome.

learn more about Marc Wayshak

By Marc Wayshak

Shutterstock

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

There are two things businesses can focus on when selling: features and outcomes. Often companies spend way too much time rattling off all the perks of a product or service and gushing about their own business ("We have the best technical expertise") and less time focusing on the prospect and the solution. This can lead to lost customers and sales.

Instead, focus on the end result by asking questions like, "If you could solve your top three challenges, what would that mean for your company in terms of increased revenues?"

Before you can start selling outcomes, you need to understand how to identify which result to sell in any scenario. Here are three tips to get you started:

1. Learn about your prospect's challenges. Every qualified prospect has challenges you can solve, but you need to understand exactly what those challenges are.

Once you've learned what your prospect's challenges are, you need to understand how important a solution is to your prospect. Remember all businesses have a lot of challenges, so they must prioritize them. If the challenges your outcome would solve aren't at the top of your prospect's list of priorities, then it's time to move on.

Related: 6 Secrets to a Successful Sales Meeting

2. Understand and clarify your prospect's goals. After you have identified your prospect's challenges, you need to help him become clear about his goals. What is the prospect really looking to accomplish over the next year or two? What challenges will absolutely have to be solved in order to achieve that? This is where you want to start talking dollars and cents, this is where you build your value.

When you get prospects to articulate the revenues or profits they are losing due to their current business strategy, the massive value for you are selling becomes clear.

3. Create clear objectives: Now that you know what your prospect should be accomplishing, it's time to create tangible objectives for your potential relationship. This means targeting particular metrics, like level of revenue increase, decrease in costs and new customer visits. By creating clear objectives, developing a budget for a solution with a prospect is painless and isn't about the price.

Related: Five Strategies for a Winning Sales Presentation

.

Marc Wayshak

Sales Strategist and Author

Marc Wayshak is the author of Game Plan Selling . As a sales strategist, he has created a system aimed at revolutionizing the way companies approach selling.

Related Topics

Editor's Pick

Everyone Wants to Get Close to Their Favorite Artist. Here's the Technology Making It a Reality — But Better.
The Highest-Paid, Highest-Profile People in Every Field Know This Communication Strategy
After Early Rejection From Publishers, This Author Self-Published Her Book and Sold More Than 500,000 Copies. Here's How She Did It.
Having Trouble Speaking Up in Meetings? Try This Strategy.
He Names Brands for Amazon, Meta and Forever 21, and Says This Is the Big Blank Space in the Naming Game
Business News

These Are the Most and Least Affordable Places to Retire in The U.S.

The Northeast and West Coast are the least affordable, while areas in the Mountain State region tend to be ideal for retirees on a budget.

Culture

50 Work-From-Home Jobs that Pay As Much or More than Average Salary

If you're tired of driving to an office and would love to work at home, there are plenty of high-quality full-time work-from-home jobs for you.

Growing a Business

Are You Using the Most Powerful Marketing Tool on the Planet? Ashley Kirkwood Shows You How.

Learn how to make money from (and through) public speaking, even if you've never been on a stage.

Growing a Business

Chris Do of The Futur on his 1 Billion Mission

Interview with CEO of The Futur Chris Do about self development, creating the best content, and The Futur Euro Tour.

Productivity

8 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Co-Working Space

Take full advantage of a setup that offers at-home flexibility with in-office professionalism.

Travel

6 Secret Tools for Flying First Class (Without Paying Full Price)

It's time to reimagine upgrading. Here's how to fly first class on every flight, business or personal.