You must have read many articles on how to make more sales. You must also be working on generating more sales, and you know that it’ll be a continuous process in the future as well. However, in this market, sales are only becoming more difficult. Now, you are required to put more effort into doing the same amount of business that you were doing earlier. In my opinion, the only way you can win this war and get more business with less effort is by giving value first.
When I ask people what, according to them, is ‘giving value first’; they have the usual answers for me, like giving some discount or free gifts or some offer on the next purchase. I feel all these things are wrong. These are just value-added services that your customers or clients will get after they buy your product or service. You can’t really call it ‘Giving Value First’. When you offer something to your customers without any charges, even before they buy anything from you is what you’ll truly call ‘Giving Value First.
The trust between you/your organization, and your customer grows many folds when you do something for them without expecting sales from them. Let me explain you with an example to give you a better understanding of this concept.
Let’s say you’re studying in a college, and you’re in love with a girl in your batch and looking to express your feelings to her. You have two options to do that – First; you go directly to her, introduce yourself and tell her about your feelings. I bet in 99% of cases; the girl will say no to you (or, worst, may not see your face again if your proposal was annoying enough). Yes, there is a rare chance that she says yes, but that would be either because she already knows you or you’re very famous in college, or maybe she’s looking for exactly the same person as you.
However, there’s another option, too; you can be friends with her without expressing what you truly feel. Then you start helping her in her studies; you can give her some gifts, take her out for a movie and give her a few treats as well. You can be there for her whenever she needs help. Finally, when you think you’ve given enough value to the relationship you share with her, and she develops trust in you; at that time, you express your feelings. In this scenario, there’s a great chance that you’ll get a yes.
In the case of your customer, too, you can draw parallels with the above example. There’s hardly any chance that someone will buy from you if you just try to sell it. They might buy because either your brand is very big, or they’re already looking for a product or service like yours. By ‘Giving Value First’, you can increase your conversion rate many folds. Here, I am not asking you to give out your product or service free to your end users. In many cases, a practice like this will diminish your position in the customer’s mind.
As I mentioned earlier, giving value first is giving something to your customers for free before they purchase anything from you. You come in his good books of the customer when you do something like that. Let’s say you have a female garments showroom. When a lady enters your store with her kids; a gesture like someone from your team giving chocolate to her kids even before she looks at the collection or buys it will add a lot of value to her shopping experience. By giving her the value first in the form of a nice gesture, you increase the odds of her buying from your showroom.
The way you should always see it is – your customer is like that beautiful girl in your college whom all the boys want her in their life, just like how your competitors want your customer. The only way to get and keep her attention is by giving value to her without the intention of getting anything in return. Try to find new and exciting ways to give value to your customers. Identify those small things that might be useful to them and deliver that for free. If you’re looking for some kind of help with that, I will be more than happy to give you some good ideas.