It’s not uncommon to see salespeople everywhere leading with ‘I give the biggest discounts, I have the lowest price, I will give you a good deal’. They do and say all of this because they don’t know how to differentiate from the competition. But really, no one is going to buy something no matter how cheap it is. If they don’t think it will work, it’ll still be a waste of their money. So how should you be differentiating from the competition?
I was at a networking event the other day, and a real-estate lady comes up to me, hands me her business card and says, ‘I give high referral commission. And that was it, that was her differentiator! She was pretty much trying to bribe people to give her business. Therefore, she was leading with price as her differentiator. The thing is, she not alone. In this episode of the Selling in Asia podcast, Managing Director Tom Abbott shares how to stop using price as a differentiator and what to do instead.
Don’t Differentiate On Price
It’s a common notion that the lower the price, the lower the risk and the higher the price, the higher the risk, whether real or perceived. So it’s effortless to play the low price game, but you really have to sell a lot to make it worthwhile because the volume has to be there.
On the other end of the spectrum with a high price means you don’t need a lot to make a lot of money. You really have to be able to demonstrate the value. Why should they pay that much for your product or service? Generally, why you shouldn’t solely rely on differentiating on price is because quite often, customers today, even when they pay a low price, still, for some reason, expect high-quality service.
How To Differentiate From Your Competitors
Are you an established brand, or are you a newcomer? Are you a high-priced luxury brand, or are you a low-cost brand? Perhaps you stand apart in terms of service, or you pride yourselves on offering the best level of service possible?
Perhaps you’re the opposite, no-frills. No support at all. And, as a result, you’re probably low cost.
Maybe you stand apart in terms of being specialised, niche, targeted and focused. Or perhaps you go the complete opposite, and you’re a generalist -a jack of all trades, and you do a little bit of everything!
However, above all else, please consider there’s no perfect way to differentiate. Still, you need to find a way to distinguish your company from the rest because brands that hover in the middle are the ones that tend to get lost. Ultimately, they end up just competing on price and getting lost in the sea of competitors.
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