Product or sales based marketing is all about price. This is probably one reason why salespersons are so disliked by so many. Who wants to listen to someone you do not know spew price, product or proposal?

Now if you are engaged in education based marketing, your approach is to first build the relationship and then sell the value of your professional services. Of course, some sales professionals understand this concept far better than others.

I was reminded of the importance of value when listening to a recent television interview. The host was asking the guest about his recent multi-million dollar contract and how could he be worth that ridiculously high figure? His response was about value and value is what someone is willing to pay.

Establishing value is relatively easy provided you who are in that selling role take the following actions:

1. Do your homework
2. Establish a relationship with your predetermined target market
3. Listen to what is being said without your "know it all" filters
4. Ask both closed and opened ended questions for further clarification, legitimization and retention
5. Have the results to reinforce your message

Of course it goes without saying you must believe you have value and your services also have value. Sales Coaching Tip: Selling value without believing in your own value is a losing proposition.

All five of these actions need to take place for value to be easily sold. The last one is must and is probably the icing on the cake. If you can demonstrate positive and measurable results from your services or offerings, then earning the sales becomes far easier.

Selling price especially in today's market where your potential customers (a.k.a. prospects) are far more educated than at any other time in history is a losing proposition and turns you into a commodity. You can turn the tables by educating (hence the term education based marketing) your prospects on the value that you and your services bring. By embracing this approach, you will increase sales and find selling to much easier than you ever thought possible.