A couple weeks ago I introduced the idea that many companies today are stressing about finding profit on the back end of projects – ordering smarter from vendors, designing better, being efficient on installations and many other ideas after the sale happens. While these practices are necessary to ensure profitability, there is an additional method that can help that we tend to ignore – especially during economic slowdowns when everyone is penny-pinching. That method? Charging more!
In this series, I’m going to present five ideas to selling your way to profitability.
Idea #2: Understand the emotional pain that your solution will fix.
I recently needed some electrical work done on my house to keep our insurance coverage, which was a surprisingly stressful process. I invited four companies to compete for the work, and I chose the second most expensive. Why did I choose to pay more? Because the salesperson knew the pain that was being caused by my problem.
Two of the other three salespeople focused on their solution and proposal, explaining to me how they’ll be price-competitive and guarantee their work for seven years. One salesperson did a good job of understanding my problem but didn’t get to the pain. He realized that my problem was that part of my wiring wasn’t approved by most insurance companies, but he never got to my pain being caused by the deadline of May 31st. I was incessantly worrying about not being able to get covered by then and spending unending time trying to get answers, distracting me from my work and adding more stress. That was my pain!
The winning salesperson knew that I didn’t care about their warranty, whether updated wiring to the main box was going to decrease our power bill, or how much the project cost. She knew that my pain was caused by the uncertainty of us being approved by an insurance company by May 31st. Of course, I cared about those other things, but they weren’t causing me pain like the deadline was. Heck, I was losing more money by not focusing on my work than any of the proposals cost. The winner saw that. She understood the anxiety I was experience, and prepared a detailed schedule for me ensuring that the work would be done with plenty of time to get inspected and insured before the deadline.
How did she learn about my pain? She asked questions, and then kept asking questions. Through the process she got to know my problem and the source of my pain, and because of that she was able to deliver the exact solution that I wanted. And I guarantee that her company made a healthy margin on my project … and I’m ok with that.
To charge more for projects, get to know the emotional pain that is affecting the individuals at your accounts. When you know that pain and you’re able to ease it, your customer will be happy to pay a little more.
###
Would you like to improve your sales or marketing results?
Click here to schedule a 15-minute call with a Vector Firm consultant to see how we can help.
