It Ain't the Price, It's the Cost - Stupid! | Robert Menard | Sales Gravy Articles

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It Ain't the Price, It's the Cost - Stupid!

Written by Robert Menard

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4 Secrets To Selling Value Versus Price

You've told your prospects in so much detail about all the great value they will receive but they just don't seem to get it. You know that if only they could see the value in your products and services then price would not be such an issue.

Do you find that your prospects are focused on the price of your products and services and often pressure you to give them discounts?

Here are four secrets, if learned and applied, will guarantee that your prospects will see the value in your products and services so that price is no longer the issue. These four secrets are commonsense and obvious once you know them but in selling what is commonsense and obvious is rarely applied.

Secret #1: Forget about selling and trying to get your prospect to buy your products and services.

The common trap, that you don't want to fall into, is to start selling your products and services from the very first conversation with your prospect. Instead, you want to forget about selling and trying to get your prospect to buy your products and services. Just have a conversation and ask the right questions so you can understand their problem and determine, if in fact, you can help them. I call this initial phase the 'Discover Phase' and it is where you should be spending the majority of your time in the sales process.

Secret #2: Have your prospect tell you the value (instead of you tell them).

If you tell your prospect about the value you offer, they may or may not see this as relevant, of interest or of value. However if you ask the right questions so your prospect tells you the value of solving their problem, they will then see this value as relevant, of interest and of value. The big difference is that they have told you (and themselves) the value as opposed to you telling them.

Secret Number #3: Have valuable conversations.

The conversations you want to have with your prospect should include so much value that they actually thank you for speaking with them and, in fact, look forward to having more conversations with you. How do you have such conversations? It's easy really. You see probably no one has asked your prospect powerful questions which help them get clarity around their problem and what it is costing them. This sort of clarity and information is of great value to your prospect. They will see that you have a valuable skill and they will want to have future conversations with you to continue gaining clarity in other areas. They will see having conversations and having a relationship with you as valuable.

Secret #4: Add your value to their value.

Once your prospect has told you the value they will receive from solving their problem, they will be receptive to listening to how you can add even more value. Not only will they be receptive to listening to how you can add more value but they will also be appreciative of the additional value you can add. This is because, at this stage, they will have effectively sold themselves on taking action to solve the problem and the more value they can see that they will receive; the easier it is for them to justify buying your products and services.

In summary, as a consequence of not selling while you ask the right questions, your prospect will see both the value in solving their problem plus they will see the value in having a relationship with you. You are then in a position to help them justify a buying decision by adding more value to what they have told themselves. This all leads to a decision based on value and not on price.

Since the dawn of commerce, sales pros have contemplated how to capture the buyer’s order. A recurring solution arrives in the inspirational vision of a lower price. As evangelical advocates of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) principle we can help our suppliers by stating directly and soothingly; “It ain’t the price; it’s the cost, stupid.”

Expressed in simplest form, the “best value” is the lowest TCO. The TCO equals sum of the four elements of cost: Quality, Service, Delivery, and Price (QSDP). Price is only an initial cost element. The other three have a far greater impact on the TCO. According to Purchasing magazine’s annual survey, Price consistently comes in last in importance of these four cost elements, struggling to reach 15%.

To illustrate TCO for suppliers, consider the choice of two products, one priced at $1,000 and another at $1,500. The Quality of the products is such that the $1,000 product has a useful life of one year while the $1,500 product will last for two years. In TCO terms, the $1,000 product has higher TCO of $1,000 per year than the $1,500 product at $750 per year. Lowest price does not automatically equate to best value!

Suppliers fall into two TCO categories – the believers and the uninitiated. Believers practice TCO while the uninitiated sell low Price. Develop a two pronged strategy to cultivate more and better low cost suppliers in both categories.

TCO believers: stress lowest TCO, cost reductions and the corresponding potential for larger orders

Uninitiated: engage in supplier development by educating and training the under informed supplier in the TCO concept.

TCO suppliers reject inferior Quality which can generate production problems and customer complaints. Poor Delivery results in missed orders, storage charges, and safety stock expenses. Unreliable Service costs more for slow response time, dated technology, or inadequate support. In buying from these TCO savvy suppliers, make them prove and periodically re-evaluate how their wares consistently yield the lowest TCO, especially in the cost elements most important to us.

The TCO supplier prioritizes the importance of QSDP as seen through the customer’s prism. For instance, Quality is the most important cost for medical products while Service dominates the software buy, and Delivery controls commodity steel. In collaborative negotiations, supplier and customer focus on reducing the high cost elements to shrink the TCO, not argue over the price.

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Discuss preferential treatment with the TCO suppliers. Purging high cost suppliers saves money. We thus have an economic motive to increase our spend with a low cost supplier. What’s in it for them? Fixed burdens are divided over a larger base, variable expenses for customer attraction and retention, advertising, marketing, etc are minimized, all translating directly to reduced costs. Demand that these savings be passed along in the form of lower price.

For the uninitiated supplier prong, first make a go/no-go buying decision. Does this price-fixated supplier have significant potential? If so, we may invest in a supplier development program to educate and train them in TCO. After a successful development period, this supplier may qualify for moving up to the preferred status.

Our suppliers’ philosophy must be a commitment to solving our problems with their lowest TCO products and services. To be the best value supplier, they must provide lowest TCO. To make TCO simple: “It ain't the price; it’s the cost, stupid!”

Robert Menard
		About the author:
		Robert Menard is a veteran of over two thousand Seminars, Workshops and Keynotes in 47 states and foreign countries north and south of each border, and east and west of each ocean. A motivational humorist, he delivers his messages on the wings of humor to in - house training groups and convention audiences alike with his signature energetic and engaging style and his unique customer's perspective. A professional speaker, his name is the only one ever to appear on the National Speakers Association web site in a search of "purchasing expertise". .