You don’t need to sell your services or products based on price. You don’t need to waste your time on fee-sensitive clients, either.

In today’s post, I explain why. I’ll also provide you with examples you can learn from, so you too no longer need to sell based on price.

Sort by price

One of the most common features on shopping sites, is the “sort by price” filter. It lets us see products in the category we’ve searched for, listed in price order.

The reason sort by price exists, is that the marketplace demands it. When presented with 5 or 50 options for a commodity product, the lowest price wins. It makes no sense to pay more for it than you need to.

Right?

Wrong!

Here’s an example that explains how you can charge significantly more for a commodity product.

Bob is passionate about helping people worldwide have access to clean drinking water. He then finds a water brand, which donates money from every bottle sold, to build wells in areas where there’s no clean water.

So, Bob is very happy to pay more for his bottled water from this well-building brand. Plus, because people like Bob know lots of other people like Bob, he tells his friends. They do the same.

Water gets sold.

Wells get built.

And people get to make a meaningful difference to the lives of those who need it.

What’s the lesson for your business?

Give them something else to care about

If you want potential clients or customers to stop caring about your prices or fees, give them something more important to care about.

The fastest, easiest way to achieve this is to do what that bottled water company does, and differentiate your story.

Here’s another example.

This time it’s based on a service rather than a product. It’s from the accountancy profession. Instead of competing against their equally qualified competitors for the same prospects, some accountants differentiate.

How?

They choose a sector they enjoy working in, such as design, and focus exclusively on working with design businesses. In doing so, they cease being seen as a commodity provider. The accountant becomes known as a specialist. Their marketing speaks directly to designers and the designers immediately take notice. ‘At last, an accountant who understands us’. Set apart from the pack, the accountant has the freedom to charge based on their uniqueness and the value their uniqueness brings to design businesses.

The good news?

If you’re thinking this approach couldn’t work for you or your industry, remind yourself that it works for a commodity as common and indistinguishable as water. Therefore, whatever type of business you are in, it absolutely can work for you.

The longest path in the world is the path of least resistance.

Anyone can join it.

There’s literally no barrier to entry.

However, there’s no winning line, either.

A former client of mine has just sold a business for over $5 million. When she purchased it in 2020, it was valued at $250k. Her short story contains an extremely valuable business lesson.

To start, I’d like you to ask yourself the following question. If I work hard and smart for the next 4 years, what’s the maximum I could sell my business for?

Here’s why that question is so valuable

My former client, Jill, called me on Monday. She had some good news. The sale of her business went through. She bought it for $250k in January 2020. And sold it for $5.8 million.

I was working with Jill when she bought the business. It was already in pretty good shape. It didn’t need any meaningful capital investment. What it needed was an owner who could see the financial potential of the business. As she told me at the time; ‘He just can’t see the money.’

• The previous owner saw the potential value of his business as $250k.
• Jill saw the potential value as $5 million.
• Interestingly, they were both proven to be right.

What happened over those 4 years to make all that money? The core difference was that the previous owner made decisions based on a $250k payday. Jill made decisions based on a $5 million payday.

Our beliefs

When we believe that our business has the potential to sell for a certain amount, we act accordingly. It looks like this.

• Jill believed that the business she bought was potentially worth $5 million, so she bought it.
• As owner, she made $5 million decisions… decisions consistent with her valuation.
• Her decisions led to $5 million actions, actions consistent with her decisions.
• And her actions saw her make $5 million.

The key here is that we need to be able to see the money. That’s the spark. We need to genuinely believe in the potential value of our business. Only then will our decisions and the actions we take, be consistent with achieving the potential.

How do we find out if we’re underestimating the value of our business?

A good place to start is to ask a trusted adviser. Someone you know, if at all possible. This could be your accountant or maybe your business banking manager. If they can’t help you directly, ask if they know someone they can recommend.

This is a situation where trust is essential. Without trust we struggle to believe. And belief is what opens our eyes.

Here’s a very common marketing problem, along with a free marketing resource to help you overcome it.

Let’s go.

Here’s what we know. There are prospective clients or customers out there who truly need what your business provides. And there are lots of them, too.

So far so good.

The challenge comes with the next step. Your prospective client absolutely needs a new service provider… but unless they want to buy from you, someone else will get their money.

Fortunately, if you’re not attracting enough new clients there’s a proven answer. You need to look at how big a want your marketing is creating, when measured against your competitors want.

• How convincing is your value proposition, compared to theirs?
• How engaging are your various service levels or product bundles, compared to theirs?
• How compelling is your messaging, compared to theirs?
• How attractive are your payment terms, compared to theirs?

Next, you need to avoid making what I call ‘the excellent mistake’.

The excellent mistake

Never assume that just because your service is excellent, you must be getting your fair share of the market. That’s not how it works.

An average provider with excellent marketing, will almost always beat an excellent provider with average marketing.

So, motivate your prospects to contact you. Inspire them to become clients. If you think your marketing is already doing this, yet your results are telling you something different, take heed. Follow the numbers. The numbers will lead you in the right direction. Every single time.

Here’s that free help I promised.

I’ve put a marketing guide together, which helps countless business owners make more sales, every day of the week. You’ll find it here.

Photo | Anna Shvets

You gave a great presentation or demo to a prospect.

It went extremely well. Without a hitch.

You answered their questions in full.

You also provided assurances and quoted them a really great price.

Only for them to say they’re not interested!

Today, I’d like to show you how to avoid this scenario. Or stop it from happening as often in the future.

It’s all about two things. Knowledge and belief.

In particular, the difference between how we get someone to know what we know, and how we get someone to believe what we believe.

Knowledge and beliefs

Knowledge: If you want a prospective customer to know something you know, you simply tell them. Your knowledge is then transferred.

They now know what you shared with them. This is what happens during the sales process.

Beliefs: If you want a prospective customer to change what they believe, simply telling them something new has very little effect. That’s because our beliefs run deep.

Our beliefs about what constitutes value, what we regard as important, what we believe is risky, etc., are developed over decades. They naturally take a long time and a lot of effort to change. Too long for a sales presentation. That’s for sure!

The answer?

Simple!

Focus on the believers

The most direct route to spectacularly improved sales results, is to focus on the believers. Believers are the prospects who already believe in, and value, whatever the core benefits of your product or service are.

And the marketplace is packed with your believers.

This is true regardless of what kind of service or product you offer and what end of the market you serve. Your believers should be your sole focus. These are the only prospects worthy of your attention or your time.

Everything improves when a prospective customer already believes what you believe. Because gaining the sale (or new client) becomes a simple matter of providing a compelling presentation. You know… just like the great presentations you wasted on all those unbelievers, who said they were not interested!

Yes, you’ll need to adjust your marketing so you can identify and attract your believers. But that’s relatively easy.

When you get it right, your reward is vastly better conversion rates, higher sales volume and greater revenues and profits.

Everything you need in order to achieve every goal you have for your business is now available to you. The contacts you need, the clients or customers you need, the financial backing you need, the answers you need, the advice you need… everything.

For example.

More great contacts than you’ll ever need

Thanks to social networks, especially LinkedIn, it’s easier than ever for you to find the exact profile of business contacts you need. But that’s not all. Once you find your ideal contacts, connecting with them is really easy.

The financial cost of all this? Depending on the network you use and approach you use, it’s either free of charge or very inexpensive. What an amazing opportunity.

More clients or customers than you’ll ever need

Not only are there more clients out there than you’ll ever need, there are also more people out there, who already have trusted, direct access to your prospective clients.

Once they recommend you to your prospective clients, a hefty subset will quickly hire you. Far more than you can handle, though. So, only accept enough of them to smash your targets.
Note: I wrote about this at the start of the year, including how it works.

Seriously. Too many clients, too fast, can create big problems.

More financial backing than you’ll ever need

The money is out there and you have multiple ways to access it. Yes, the banks are full of money. The thing is, there are a lot of wealthy people right now, who are getting uninspiring returns on their investments. And a healthy subset of these people are very open to opportunities to invest.

Here’s what I k now about these wealthy investors. They have deep pockets, brave hearts and they’re smart. Smart enough to help you avoid mistakes. In other words, they’ll often invest their knowledge and experience into your business, too. This is often of greater value to you than whatever financial investment they make.

Every answer you’ll ever need

Regardless of what challenges you’re facing, there are people out there with the answers you need. These experienced professionals can save you years of wasted time and years of wasted opportunity. They’re also easier to find and connect with than at any time in history.

And there’s AI. You now have free or low-cost access to AI. So you can find answers and conduct research on just about everything, from the comfort of your preferred device. This is something previous generations were only able to dream about.

But it’s yours. Right here. Right now.

Every challenge now has a solution

Many business owners are unaware just how quickly they can fully-resolve any ongoing, stressful problem. One of the reasons for this, is that they haven’t yet noticed the plethora of solutions at their fingertips. Problems with everything from cash flow, sluggish business growth and lack of investment, to taxes, HR, recruitment and premises issues… just about anything you can think of, are now available to you.

Keep that in mind, if you’re worried about, or frustrated with, tough challenges right now.

Focus on the solutions, my friend. Because the exact answers you need are all around you — you’re swimming in them!

Photo: Sam Lion Pexels.com