Show me the value or I’ll show you the door.

CONSIDER THIS: If you had a customer-based value proposition every time you went into a sales call, and that value proposition had REAL VALUE for the customer, it would give you a consistent approach, consistent engagement, and a consistent competitive advantage that takes price off the table as an issue. If you do it right, it can eliminate or level the playing field of three bids.

WHAT IS A VALUE PROPOSITION? Let me define each element. Once this value proposition is broken down, you will clearly see how your sales presentation needs to be restructured so the customer will know what’s in it for him or her.

The value proposition is broken into 5.5 strategic parts. Each part stands alone, but each part is critical to the other because they build momentum, reduce perceived risk, and ultimately create a buying atmosphere.

Here are the components:

1. The value that your company provides.

2. The value your product or service provides.

3. The value that you (the salesperson) provide.

4. The value in a short-term incentive.

5. The value that helps your customer produce more, benefit from, and/or profit from.

5.5 The continuing value after the sale.

GREAT NEWS: Converting your sales pitch into a value proposition is not easy. That’s the best part. It will represent a change from your normal, boring way of presenting your product or your service. Here’s the good news: It will immediately differentiate you from the way all the others present. It will allow you to rise above your competitors, not wallow in the mud with them. It will give you the opportunity to set the standard, not match the standard.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF “VALUE”? I promise, when you master the value proposition and use it in your selling process you will double your sales, keep your profit, generate a long list of loyal customers, and confuse the “price-no-value” competition.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling, is the President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer. He gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached by phone: 704/333-1112 or e-mail: salesman@gitomer.com

c 2005 All Rights Reserved – Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written

permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer 704/333-1112