Provide value while solving a problem to become sales guru

In a world of selling armies, only few generals emerge; and it is these generals who thrive.

Recently, I met a woman who chose to be a general in the travel industry. While the rest of the industry griped about the challenges of slashed commissions, low barriers to entry (ease of starting an agency) and the ubiquitous social media, she devised special international packages targeted at the business fraternity, which commercial banks cannot get enough of.

These generals get richly rewarded for being daring. Besides personal fulfilment, because of their novelty they break the mould of challenges that bog down majority in the army, pricing being a major one.

In return, they are rewarded with sustainability. I know a trainer whose leadership programme is fully booked two years ahead and that the impressive growth is all achieved by word-of-mouth despite the price being easily three to four times the industry standard. Meantime, the rest of the army offers the same courses, with some claiming differentiation on the delivery or imported programmes (franchises).

It’s the same at work; most managers will tweak a minor component of the previous year’s plans to use this year rather than start from scratch.

Few sellers become sufficiently proactive to engineer a product, programme or plan informed by problem identification. Generic problem solving is preferred. Engineering a product for sale from scratch takes time and energy. Sometimes even the prospects don’t know they have a problem.

But for generals who desire to show value, money is rarely the challenge; they find a way to overcome it. Starting from the end also invites the possibility of failure, yet in the same breath it invites the possibility of spectacular success.

Problem identification implies research, creativity and patience, traits that the army looks at and wonders, “Why bother? Copying is so much easier. After all, isn’t money the only issue?”

This attitude that money is the sole driving force is the problem. For the generals, value is the driving force. Ironically, the money that follows them is a hundredfold what the army is left contending with. In addition, the general’s business also finds traffic flowing to any other humdrum products that are sold alongside the unique one.

Another advantage such generals have is that the army of imitators struggles to copy them but it is a hit-and-miss exercise. They simply cannot get the DNA. And when they think a clone is imminent, along comes the next creation.

Problem identification, not problem solving, is the way to show value and ease the sale process. For instance, with the rapidly dwindling price of DVDs and now with digital TV allowing viewers to play movies from a flash disk, movie sellers are finding themselves struggling to survive. The one who will package movies based on generation could find the foot-fall favouring his stall.

I envisage a collection of movie hits from the 70s, 80s or 90s recorded in today’s high definition, packaged and sold as a collector’s item. I doubt price would be an issue here, and I even doubt further that buyers would buy with the explicit purpose of copying for others. It just wouldn’t be the same.

Kageche is lead facilitator Lend Me Your Ears, a sales and speaker training firm
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