Selling Value- How To Have "Alot" To Say About Your "Basic" Offer!

"It's just a basic website... What can I say?

How do I glamorize that?

What is there Really to Say About it?"

I posted a scaled down version of this somewhere else, but its worth its own thread, as it's own topic. If you read some of it already, it may be worth re reading as some has been added. Hope it helps someone.

Here goes nothin!

Alot of people wonder how to justify their price, and this post may help some of you to wrap your mind around the concept of building value and inspire you create better, more effective pitches around your offers.

There are alot of things a sales beginner might glean from this, that could potentially help them gain a better understanding of how to have alot to say about a "basic" product.

Building value is a big part of sales.

First of all, remember, people dont buy "features" they buy "benefits".

One guy might be better at selling the benefits of just a FEW of features, than another is, who offers a whole lot more features...

Which one does better in sales?

It's the first guy!

Selling benefits is simply "Building Value", ie; expressing the benefits of the components within any feature.

There is a distinction between "features" and "Benefits".

Sometimes you can add 3 new features, but you may not know how to build any value with them, or talk about any of them extensively enough to RELAY the value, so,adding more features to your package isn't always the answer to making more sales. It can be much simpler, and cheaper than that.

That's what this post is about; salesmanship.

For instance:

Selling even just a simple "web page" has a lot of value, even WITHOUT any major SEO. if you know how to build the value of it by expressing the benefits.

In the below case (example) , just the page itself, with nothing else is the "feature":

1: A web page can serve as an online brochure or billboard for your potential customers.

2: Customers can come to a Web Page still buy your products even after your store hours are closed.

3: You can list your corporate web page on all of your business cards.

4: You can send Call in customers to your web page to explain customer service policies, and it does all the work for you.

5: Your web page can be featured on a directory right next to your top competitors, enabling you to take advantage of some of their advertising budget, as they send their own traffic to the directory. Much of that traffic looks around the directory at other businesses featured.

6: You can use a web page in your offline advertising, offering customers even ONE more way to contact you and offer thenm even more information about your company than a yellow page ad can afford you.

7: You will get random visitors from search engines who arent currently customers, even without any additional advertising.

8: You can back link it to any other sites you have increasing their authority...

9: Customers can fill out your interactive online questionnaire form ... (The form itself can also be another separate feature with its own list of benefits).

10: You can list coupons, special and discounts on your page...and ask people to share them..., thereby even creating a little viral traffic to your offers.

11: You can list your 800 number on it...

12: Unlike yellow page ads , you can track and quantify your results.

13: It will also open up an opportunity for your business to be seen by the millions of "Mobile" customers out there searching the web on their cell phones! That alone is a good reason to to have one.

Just a basic web page has all those benefits!

Can you imagine?

All that and more (if I had time to list) can be used to build the value of just a single feature...a basic web page in your directory with no frills...

The idea is to have a couple of features, but list all the benefits like MAD! Making something simple into something highly comprehensive and highly valuable.

Now add more features if you want: (Samples)

Lets say your directory listing package includes a google places listing, a mobile version, seo, and live chat - Thats a good $500 per month package if you sell it right.

A long list of benefits builds even more value than a long list of features, but lets add a few features now for fun:

1: You can add live chat

Value Building Benefits

A:
B:
C:

2: You can add a google places listing

Value Building Benefits

A:
B:
C:

3: You can add a backlink package

Value Building benefits

A:
B:
C:

4: You can add your own forwarding .com domain

Benefits

A:
B:
C:

5: You can add mobile version of site:

A:
B:
C:

The "feature" is the Live chat function, and the benefits of that are what build value A,B,C.

For instance:

One could say "We offer basic Onsite SEO" and leave it at that...or they could build alot of VALUE in that feature.

There are many aspects of basic onsite SEO, each of which can be explained with value, as opposed to just listing it as one feature.

Here's what I mean:

When a person SEO's a site (Forget all the "OFF SITE" Seo you can offer), they do alot of different things.

In fact you may think that basic onsite SEO, is NOT an added feature, it's just something you naturally do in the process of building a web page, but if you are sharp you can expound on it as a FEATURE, with alot of components and each component has its own "benefits".

Lets look at some:

Optimize Page Titles
Headers
Inter woven text links
Optimized Text Content
Optimized graphics
Site map...

Each of these is a different component in basic onsite SEO, each component has it's own set of unique benefits and values. Each can be capitalized on in your pitching explained, almost as a separate feature in and of itself, to illustrate that you offer ALOT...

if you are having trouble defining the value of what you offer, it's usually not so much that you dont have alot to build on, it's just that you dont USE everything you have that's available to build on, as you can see above.

Even with a basic feature, you have alot more to talk about than most people think of..., and you can build alot of value by highlighting those things.

Features mean little, but benefits are the "Whats In It For Me?". Thats what turns the customer on.

The better you can communicate those the better you can sell, and the more you can sell for.

Value isnt all about how many features you have to work with. Building value depends on what you have to work with that you can "sell".

How many benefits can you line out? How well can you communicate them?

The price point you choose to sell at has to seem worth it to both you (because you have to be convinced to be convincing) and to your customer.

Finally,

You convince YOURSELF of the value you offer by selling your own person on how much benefit actually exists there that you might be taking for granted, and you sell the customer the same way.

Surely now you can see that, for a person who doesnt have one, just a web page itself, without any frills can really benefit their business in at least ten different ways which I have lined out above.

So, look deeper into the basic service you are offering. If you think about it, there are usually alot more sellable aspects of it than you may think intially!!!

Hope this helps someone.

-John

Ps. What are some MORE benefits to a simple web page that you can think of?

Or any other simple features you want to outline?

Let's see how clearly you can make the distinction!

Looking forward to your participation.


Excellent Maverick!