Providing value for your customer is central to the success of your business and is the "hidden" secret to making more sales. But what, exactly, does "providing value," mean, and how does it distinguish your business from your competition?
Value Marketing approaches the relationship between your business and your customers as a value-driven process. Your goal is to find a match between the value your particular business offers, and the type of value your potential clients are looking for.
That is, what does the customers your business serves actually want and need most?
Every customer has a definite need, and it's your job as a supplier or provider to figure out how to satisfy that need -- or to recognize that you cannot satisfy it and focus your time and energy on the customers you can actually help.
When a potential customer contacts you, or visits your store, they are hunting for a solution to their problem, and they're hoping that you have the answer. The move helpful your answer or solution is, the more valuable it is to the customer.
A big part of supplying value is a matter of knowing which customers your products are really meant to help. Whether your company provides IT assistance, specializes in real estate law, or sells safari travel packages - each offers a different kind of value and attracts customers for different reasons.
On the surface, this seems pretty obvious, but if you investigate which customers are the best "fit" for what you have to sell, it takes the work out of selling and makes it easy to solve your customers' problems more efficiently.
Taking the time to figure out what they need and why they need it allows you to approach your customers from a place of authority or knowledge. Your customers need help figuring out which products fit their needs, and that's part of the value you supply.
Once you can describe your target market, or "ideal customer," then the value you offer them through products and services will be that much more specific. And you'll be that much more confident about providing consistent value to a very special group of people.
All you have to do is deliver that value in the best way possible, but before we move to that step, let's look at how Value Marketing can act as a magnet to attract the customers who need what your business sells, and walk them through the steps that close the sale.
This isn't a "trick." it's a tried and true method about communicating effectively with your target market and conveying your message-to-market so that a connection is formed. From there, you develop your connection by making offers that meet the needs of your customers. Eventually, if you've done a good job of matching the solutions your products provide with the people who need them, you're products will start to "sell themselves" or make your offers so attractive that selling is easy. Then you can deliver the goods and take payment.
So your first step is to identify your clients, then convey your message, and third, deliver the service or product that your customer chose to purchase, then capture or close the sale.
"Delivery," is just like it sounds. It's part of the process that's initiated by communicating to your prospects or clients. Yet most business owners don't know the specific steps that lead up to making a final sale, and they tend to skip over certain parts of the sales process. When sales or profits are down, isolating the problem becomes tricky because they didn't consider how each step effects the next.
One advantage of using Value Marketing sis that it teaches you to view every sale as a series of steps. On that note, let's take a look at what they are.
1. Identifying your ideal client and the problem you solve for them.
2. Making contact and conveying your sales message.
3. Delivering your product/service to the customer.
4. Capturing or actually closing the sale without friction.
Each of these steps is a portion of the bigger solution your customer has purchased. And each one can be a "value adder" IF you make the effort to consistently keep the needs of your customer in the forefront of the sales process.
In the Value Marketing system, the customer comes first because real value is always based on the customer's point-of-view, and not on what the seller thinks something is worth. The customer, not by the seller, judges value.
So when you solve your customers' problems with products that are "exactly what they need," your reputation will grow by word-of-mouth and so will your sales. Each step of the Value Cycle helps to produce satisfied customers, and their opinion will give you the edge over your competition.
Betsy is a business coach who helps business owners increase sales and revenue by rejuvenating their marketing strategy with a new approach that's simple to implement and "makes selling make sense." She steers her clients back to the basics of relationship-driven marketing, which has always worked the best and still does. Whether you use copy writing, video, webinars, websites, or social media to advertise your business, it all starts with connecting and building relationships.
Need some pointers on how to attract targeted customers who are ready to buy? Grab a copy of Betsy's FREE Sales Action Guide: "How to Make Selling Easy." It's filled with very practical, ready-to-apply selling tips. So be sure to visit http://www.rightmindmarketing.com and pick up your Free copy!
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