Huge Bunch of Coriander
I'm a sucker for a Farmer's Market and the last couple of months I've actually remembered the local one in Farnham just in time, before piling high the supermarket trolley.
On my way back to the car with shopping bags bursting with meat, fish, scones, apple juice and veggies I suddenly spotted a huge bunch of coriander. I love coriander, I had to have it. I grabbed the bunch and got my wallet out. In an apologetic tone the lady behind the stall said: "I'm afraid it's £1.50". In a very upbeat tone I said: "Great".
"Well, it just seems so expensive", she continued. What a strange thing to say when I was on the verge of paying!
Do customers ever question you on your prices? If so, surprisingly this lady may give you a farm-fresh perspective.
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Clearly she wasn’t comfortable about the price of the coriander but "so what" I hear you say, "you still bought it".
Now this lady was lucky because most customers who go to the market already appreciate the value of the products, but in business we rarely have that luxury. In fact it's positively dangerous to not be confident in the value of our products and what we charge for them.
Why? Because customers pick up on any lack of confidence. And without realising it we may be encouraging customers to question our prices. Especially those customers that have been trained to get the best deal from suppliers, who will be ruthless!
The key to confidence is to be focused on the right thing about your product or service:
- Not what it is - a bunch of green stuff that’s been grown in the ground
- Not what it costs - £1.50
- But what it can do - provide a main course for two (homemade coriander pesto with pasta), bruschetta starters the next evening (pesto again and cream cheese) with some left over for a Thai green curry.
If you aren't clear what your product does for your customers and the value they derive from what it does then it’s time to do some homework. Personally I was lucky that my first sales job in the 80s was for National Adhesives and they ingrained into me the importance of selling value. They did a lot of the homework for the sales team with product specialists who ran workshops, gave talks at sales meetings, published white papers and case studies and delivered training sessions on a continuous basis to counteract the relentless pressure to reduce prices.
Put yourself to the test if you think you are confident articulating the value of your product. Get a colleague to question you about your prices and then give feedback on your response. You may have some more homework to do than you think.