Maximise your potential

Do you convey the right message? I bet you personalise your invitations. It's all in the messaging – show the value and get the “Connect”.

However, I'm not here to talk about your personal potential, but that of your products. How your customers value them and decide what they will pay

At the end of the day, value is a perception of the consumer. It is based on what they consciously derive from consuming the product. And it can vary greatly for the same item.

Why should that be so? Of course, your products are of consistent quality, function and form, so why should the value vary so much between customers and what does value depend on?

Let me start by making a distinction between actual and perceived value, where value can be in units of money, time, certainty etc.

Actual value is easier to quantify and is based on two main factors:

1. How well your product achieves a certain goal, both directly and indirectly
2. The gain to the consumer from achieving that goal.

It is not difficult to see that taking a Black Cab, cutting through traffic, back streets and bus lanes, so you are on time for an important meeting might be of a higher value than a minicab home from a social event to avoid taking the Tube (or London Underground for my international friends!).

Perceived value is similarly affected by two main factors:

1. Awareness of benefits
2. Their anticipated value both specific and indirect

Lack of perceived value is often characterised by loss of customer loyalty and product downgrading. Think Uber vs Black Cabs

So what can you do about all this?

Well actually it's pretty straight forward. And again has two steps.

Firstly: You have plenty of activities aimed at trying to get customers to buy from you. But consider how well you perform at the decision stage: where the actual product to be purchased is selected.

Secondly: Maximise the perceived value by ensuring all the relevant benefits are properly understood. Again at the decision stage.

Easy huh? Well it used to be…. because both of these activities are fundamental to sales. And the golden rule in selling is two ears and one mouth - what matters most is the customer’s specific preferences and needs. Once these are clear to them (and to you), then matching the best product is both easy and valuable.

So why are we still talking about this in 2017? That’s simple. Our business world moves increasingly online, and with that has come a trend to push customers to self-serve and rely on our marketing activities. And it doesn’t matter how personalised you think your marketing messages are, you clearly miss a trick if you fail to uncover all the actual needs. Making the wrong recommendation, or assuming the benefits must be understood by all, lead to dissatisfied and devalued customers.

That’s why, particularly in the online world, delivering sales expertise at the point of purchase is critical to realising your potential: both sales volume and commercial value, now and from repeat business in the future. Not forgetting brand equity.

Want to know how your organisation can deliver at the critical point – just before the product goes in the basket? Contact us at AMO.ai. Software in sales dialogue with customers using webchat.