Anybody can sell the same product with the same features at the same price. REALLY? Nope! A quality salesman will get the order nearly every time. I do. Like taking candy from a baby.

     First of all, my product is better; because they are buying it from me. Second of all, my product is better; because I will help my customers appreciate it more. If you think your product or service is the same as mine, I hope you move in across the street. Your customers will come see me and they will not come back to you. I am all about angles. Angles are marketing advantages.

    Marketing advantages are matters of perceived value. What do I mean?  Lets use an example from my on business this week. I sell utility buildings, barns, carports and garages. Recently I went to another sales center and heard the representative say:  “No, we do not offer concrete slabs.” Almost immediately the customer turned around, got in his car and left. He didn’t announce it to the salesman but it was his way of saying: “Ok, then; I will go somewhere else that offers me the service I want. “

      This is terrible selling strategy. Do not announce a negative. Find the assets & benefits of your product or service and focus on making the customer aware of these positive reasons, to buy from you.  “I Don’t have slabs.” Nope. Don’t think I will say that to a customer.

      Now the bottom line is that I do not offer concrete contracting services either, directly from my company. I do not want the headache of integrating this into my sales contract. I do not want to take on the liability or take the emphasis off specializing on the high quality of the building structure itself.  However, the perception that I convey to the customer is completely different than what I heard from my colleague. 

      When my prospect asks “Do you offer concrete slabs?” My answer is “I have discovered that it is better for you; if I have it set up; so that the concrete contractor reports directly to you. That way, you can have tighter quality control, of that part of your project.”

     I explain to my prospect that the other guys really do not employ their cement contract people and that they are sub-contractors anyway. Subcontractors, who may or may not make slabs to the customer’s wants & needs, because they answer to the building co. 

     I tell them I have established a relationship, with a good concrete man; who will answer to them. Someone, who will make sure the slab is to THEIR satisfaction. I hand them a card from this contractor that I highly recommend and make them aware that they can trust him. Also, I tell them that I stay informed as the project goes along, so that I can manage the whole process for them.

     They get the best of both worlds; my expertise and his.

     I explain to the customer that they may be able to use a standard slab or: be required to build a monolithic footing. I let them know that this is best decided and handled by a specialist, after he has looked at their lot.

     But to maximize their value and time; I provide them this specialist who knows all local codes. I set it up for him, to work  with them directly on this phase of their project. They see before they leave that I am able to give them more personalized service and higher quality, than my competitor.  

     Before I get the customer to commit to next steps (which I will), he understands and believes that it is in his best interest to handle the concrete portion of his building separate from the building structure itself.

       In handling it this way, I assure the customer that not only is he getting the highest

quality building at the best price.

     But more than that, We are making sure he is also getting the highest quality foundation at the best possible price.

     And he is getting it from a specialist who still understands, how it must fit with my building structure.

      I could just say “I don’t offer slabs.” But I could also lose the business.

      I don’t think so.  

      I will present my product with the maximum possible value to my customer.

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     How can you state your limitations as advantages? How can you approach  your product or service differently to add value in your customer’s mind, so they will buy from you. 

      Are you starting to get it?  When the customer departs my sales center; he does not think,”They don’t offer slabs.” He thinks, that company has a better way of helping me get more of what I want. —– Yes, it’s an angle. A marketing strategy. Making lemons out of lemonade. But its true, honest and adds immediate and long-term value to the customer.

      Think about how you can “angle” your product or service differently, to make & retain more customers.