Relational selling: creating value for the customer

Relational selling is all about creating value for the customer. When you recognize customer needs and help them define them better and more deeply, your value increases. It’s not just about seeing value in your product. They want value from your solution to their problem. They must perceive a unique value from you. This is where your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) comes into play. You must differentiate yourself from the competition.

So how do they differ? Why should they buy from you?

Being different is not enough. They want to see its added value. As a business professional, you need to take a leadership role to create value for your clients. You want to understand your situation and adapt to your particular wants and needs. If you recognize customer needs and create value for them, they will move from the initial meeting to a much easier decision. In today’s world, you can’t survive if you don’t create customer value.

What creates value for the customer?

Relational selling skills. In the old days, this would be a skilled sales force. Today, this is another hat to wear as a small business owner. Understand that the sales process is a process. A step-by-step progression that requires learning some new skills.

In relational selling, you create value when you recognize customer needs. You can create value for the customer at every step of the sales process, but the greatest value can be created early in the process by helping customers define their needs. Asking open-ended questions will open the door to meaningful conversation. By creating a specialized situation, you can put them in a buying frame of mind even if it wasn’t what they were thinking before your call. Asking the right kinds of questions will help you dig deeper and better define your true needs.

Identify your triggers. What is your true pain? What are your real needs? Not all customers are the same and as such they should be treated differently. What works for one may not work at all for another. Know your real reasons; understand your pain. Know what keeps them awake at night. Find out what is happening in your life. These answers provide you with a very powerful tool to tailor your query to your needs.

Focus on the prospect’s goals. If you are only selling your product, you are missing the point. Customers look beyond the product. They look for the solution to your needs and that you understand your situation. You are a solution provider. That means that in addition to your product you also include help and advice.

Focus on understanding their problems and teach them how to solve more than one goal with your product. When you create customer value in this way, you will make the sale regardless of price.

Alternatively, if you don’t, you won’t get the sale whatever its price. Even if it is the lowest price on the market, it will not mean much to the potential customer because they will not see the difference between your product and the competition. Buyers buy from someone who has created a compelling solution for their needs and understands their needs. They then focus on the financial part of the deal. In one word; Create value through how you sell, not just through what you sell. That’s the way to be a true business professional.