"Value-added." That word is used so much it has become a cliché
in business circles. There may not be a business in the world
that doesn't claim to be a "value-added" seller.
The problem is that once a word or phrase becomes a cliché, it
often loses it's original meaning. This is true with "value-
added." What exactly does that mean?
Ask six business principles what it means when they say that they
are a "value-added" seller, and you'll likely hear six different
explanations. One claims that they fulfill orders quickly, and
that short waiting period is "of value" to their customers.
Others claim that their experienced people bring value to their
customers. Their customers do business with them because of the
quality of their people. Others claim some unique technical
expertise, others their sophisticated IT systems, some the breath
of their inventory, still others reflect on the brand name
products they handle.
I'm always a bit skeptical of this. Almost every business I work
with claims to have better people, better service, and more
technical expertise than all their competitors. What is puzzling
to me is that their competitors say the same thing. Someone has
an inaccurate perception.
The definitions grow even more obtuse when you ask salespeople
what they mean by "value added." Some will claim that their
customers demand a regular visit by the salesperson. Their
routine presence, therefore, is valuable to the customer. Others,
like their bosses, claim expertise as valuable. Many point to the
long term relationship as the factor that brings the most value
to the customer. On and on it goes.
The truth that we often overlook is this: Value is defined by the
customer, not the supplier. It doesn't matter what you think your
value is, it only matters what your customer believes it to be.
And customers don't always think alike, so that the operating
definition of value-added varies from customer to customer.
As our economy has grown more complex and competitive, the
demands of the customer and their subsequent definitions of value
have grown more varied. What was more or less universally valued
a few years ago, is not anymore. For example, local inventory may
have been universally valued in the 1990s, but today some
customers would rather buy direct and absorb a longer shipping
time. Experienced people may have been valuable to everyone a few
years ago, but some customers today would rather gather their
information off the internet and pay lower prices. Technical
expertise may have been universally valuable a few years ago, but
some customers today would rather reduce their purchasing costs
through an integrated supply contract administered by the home
office 500 miles away.
It's not that some of the things you have built into your
business as value-added are no longer important, it is that some
of then are no longer viewed, by significant numbers of your
customers, as worth paying more for. They may be necessary, but
they are not sufficient.
If you are going to be a true value-added seller in the 21st
century marketplace, you must be flexible and capable enough to
offer different things to different customers, responding to the
individual customer's definition of what is valuable to him or
her.
That means that you must have some way of ascertaining what is
valuable to each of your customers, and then some processes in
place that allows you to package, present and implement those
aspects of your offer that appeal to the customer's individual
definition.
The primary means of doing that is a highly trained sales force
that is adept at the strategies and tactics that result in a
deeper and broader understanding of what the customer really
wants, what the customer really values, and what the customer
will really pay for.
Unfortunately, much of the business world of is populated with
technically-oriented salespeople who view their job as providing
technical solutions to technical problems. While that certainly
is a significant part of the job, and an excellent foundation for
value-added selling, it is not sufficient. Others see themselves
as face-to-face customer service people, visiting the customers
on a regular, route basis in order to pick up orders and take
care of details. Still others have evolved into comfort zones:
working with the same customers, on the same product lines, in
the same ways.
More and more, value is determined by deeper and broader issues
than just those addressed by these limited perspectives. How the
solution fits into the customer's business systems, the
philosophy of the customer relative to its vendors, the strategic
plans of the customer, the potential integration of
customer/vendor IT systems, etc. - all these and more are just as
likely to be the issues that the customer values.
If salespeople are going to adequately uncover these deeper
issues, they'll need to excel at certain sales behaviors that go
above and beyond just the ability to solve a technical problem,
or show up regularly.
What must they excel at?
Specifically, value-added salespeople will need to enhance their
ability to create positive business relationships with anyone and
everyone. They'll need to relate to a variety of positions and
job titles, like CEO, CFO, Vice President, as well as production
supervisor or engineer Additionally, they'll need to expand their
abilities to deal positively with a wide variety of personality
styles. The sales person who remains in the comfort zone of
production supervisors, purchasing agents and maintenance
supervisors will severely limit his/her value.
Not only will effective salespeople need to create positive
business relationships with everyone, they also will need to fine
tune their skills in asking questions, listening constructively
and ferreting out the deeper needs of those customers.
Those salespeople who can understand what each customer considers
to be valuable to them, and then can bring creative solutions to
those customers, will be the valuable value-added sellers.
What is encouraging about this is that each of these value-added
selling skills is a learnable behavior. No one is born with the
ability to ask penetrating questions, create positive
relationships, listen constructively, or develop creative
proposal and solutions.
These behaviors of the most effective value-added salespeople can
each be learned. Once a minimum level of expertise is attained,
sales people can continually improve on these behaviors of the
rest of their selling career.
This is a great opportunity for the business who is intent on
maintaining and expanding their position as a value-added seller.
Those who develop systems that encourage the key sales behaviors,
who train their sales people in those behaviors, and who
stimulate them to continuously improve their implementation will
be those who rise to the top as value-added sellers.
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