Value Selling: How to Sell Value Over Price

For the businesses that can't compete in price - or simply don't want to, they focus on value. By this, I mean the value that the product (or service) provides to the buyer. This is usually explained in terms of benefits that they customer receives from buying and using the product.

Yet, you can't simply lists the benefits that your product offers. You can't ignore the elephant in the room - your competition. You've got to understand your competitors' products and what your product has that they don't.

This is the value. Once you know what the value is, you want to educate shoppers on how the value outweighs the price difference. This can be extremely effective at swaying buyers, especially if your item offers multiple unique benefits.

The bottom line is that consumers are not really buying the "product". They are buying the experience or the result that they get from having or using the product. For instance, people don't buy diet pills because they taste great. They want to experience the feeling of being beautiful, sexy, healthy or energetic. If your weight loss product costs twice as much as the competition, but users lose weight twice as fast, which one do you think dieters will choose?

Another effective way of demonstrating value to shoppers is to show them how much money your product or service will save them in the long run. This may be your best option if consumers are shopping exclusively by price. Energy-efficient CFL light bulbs used this strategy.

Sure, the bulbs are more expensive to buy than your standard light bulb. How are you going to sell the value of a light bulb? It's sure not going to help you lose weight twice as fast. Sorry, I couldn't help but throw that in there. The CFL bulb companies educated customers on the price value: that the bulbs would last an extra long time and use less energy, so over time customers would actually be saving money.

Also keep in mind that the value of the product doesn't necessarily have to pertain to the product itself. It can be super fast shipping for no additional charge, a free tutorial included showing buyers how to use the product or a lifetime guarantee.

So, What Do You Do Next?

• List the unique benefits of your product.
• Find out what your competition does NOT offer.
• Calculate the price difference.
• Educate shoppers on the value they receive from your product in terms of that price difference. Remember, show them the results they will receive or the experience they will have - not a list of features.