Many SME’s find it difficult to compete with their rivals, especially when it comes to pricing their products or services. Without economies of scale it can become increasingly difficult to compete with a more established, larger competitor. At Business Support on Demand we want to help our members close the deal regardless of the price of their products.
Below are just a few simple but effective tips to help you position your product or service as the number one choice for your customers.
Customer Driven Service
The customer experience is one of the most crucial aspects when purchasing a product or service. Excellent customer service can far outweigh product pricing, particularly if the prospective customer has received a negative experience previously, as a result of being price sensitive. It’s a proven fact that delivering high levels of customer service increases the following deliverables:
- More customers through word of mouth and client/customer referrals
- Allows you to build a strong reputable brand
- Increases the amount of repeat business/customers
- Encourages recognition from your industry
Value for Money
In the current economic climate, businesses take great consideration to monitor the value added on every purchase made. It is therefore essential that businesses can clearly demonstrate their service/product value. Demonstrating value to your customers will inform their buying decisions, increasing the chances of closing the deal. Demonstrating value can be easier than you think, below are a few examples:
A Quality Offer – Many consumers all want to have the best, newest and most innovative products or services on the market. By making your product or service ‘better’ than your competitors you will naturally increase the amount of sales. You can demonstrate this perception by using client testimonies or industry award wins. Allocating a budget to support you to promote the testimonies will increase your chances of closing the deal.
Offer a Guarantee or Warranty - Guarantees and warranties are a great way to get the edge over your competitors. It may be worthwhile to carry our market research to ensure your warranty or guarantee is more appealing than your competitor. This is an effective way to minimize client risk.
Give Customers What They Want – Find out what the prospective customers needs are. Ask probing questions to determine the most important aspects that inform their buying decisions. Once you have this information use it to create your offer. Working hard to fulfil the client requirements will clearly demonstrate value for money.
Return on Investment - If your product or service has a substantial benefit to the prospective customer, make them aware of this. Work out the benefits to the customer. For example; does the product save them time, money, improve efficiency etc.
Customer Knowledge - To close a deal many businesses often lower their margin in order to close the deal. On other occasions the customer may be happy to pay the price quoted. Whichever the outcome, it is important to understand your customer and their budgets to ensure you set the price to meet their needs. Setting the right price will help to retain customers and encourage repeat business. It’s important to log all customer quotes to ensure your pricing structure remains consistent.
We hope the above tips are useful to you and your business. At Business Support on Demand we want to help all of our members to generate more businesses and increase your chances of closing the deal!