Value is ambiguous. It can mean different things to different people in various situations. However, one situation has an almost universal meaning: B2B sales.
When you sell to other businesses, how much do they value your product? The answer is clear. They value your product based on how much incremental profit they expect after buying and using it.
For high-ticket items, your buyers almost certainly calculate ROI. The Return on ROI is incremental profit, which is obvious.
For smaller-priced items, especially ones where an individual has budget authority and can make the decision on their own, ROI still matters. It’s less blatant but still important. That individual gets promoted for making decisions in the best interest of the company, which means increasing profit. When you convince an empowered individual they are deciding the best interest of their company, you win the sale.
Assuming you believe B2B buyers want incremental profit, here is my question to you. Why don’t you talk that way to your buyers? Why is your web page about your features and capabilities? Why do your salespeople give product pitches?
I was working with a client who had a leading product. They had great technology. They were proud of their capabilities, which were loved by most of the end-users. But they sold through a distribution channel. The resellers are the ones who decide which product to use. They hoped that resellers would learn about their features and choose their product. But what does each reseller want? To make more money. My client’s product would be selected much more often if they focused on showing their resellers how their product would make them more profit.
If you are selling B2B, then please have fantastic, in-depth answers to the following questions:
- How do you make your customers more money?
- How much more money do you make them?
Every customer is different, but you should know the general answers to these two questions and then be able to dive deeper for any single customer. The answer to number 2 is highly correlated to their willingness to pay. The more profit they think they will make, the more you can charge and the more likely you will win the sale.
This isn’t easy, but I help all of our B2B clients do this. Let us know if you need help.
Now, go make an impact!
Tags: b2b, price, pricing, value
