In the current environment, driving revenue growth while staying true to margin expectations can be a tough ask. Tight budgets, and sometimes limited interest in heavy investment into developing brand new products and services has, for many of our clients, driven a renewed interest in maximising sales of propositions that already exist.
How do I sell more of the solutions I already have?
One of the questions we are therefore regularly answering for our clients is, “How do I sell more of the solutions I already have?”. This question is particularly frustrating when you believe your solution is better than the competition, and you find yourself asking “Why aren’t prospects buying our solution? Can’t they see it’s a better product?”.
This is a challenge we often face with our clients, and there are 2 halves of the problem to consider:
- Proposition: is the proposition right for my customers? How should we tweak it?
- Decision-making: how can you take your proposition to market with maximum effectiveness?
We could investigate many different aspects of each of these points, but typically we find that the key factors to improve are the following:
Proposition: is the proposition right for my customers? How should we tweak it?
How well does my proposition meet market needs?
Before you go out to the market to sell more of your solution, you need to check it’s still attractive to customers. Are there any elements of it which need updating? With solutions that have been in the market for a while, we particularly find that customer mindsets have evolved as the market has changed, and that means the proposition needs to evolve with it. It might be that customers are using the solution in a different way, or that it needs to interact with different systems, but it’s vital that you stay close to how customer needs are changing.
Do you really know what customers value about your solution?
Regardless of which features of your solution you’re most proud of, the most important thing to communicate to your customers is that it meets their needs. All too often, we see businesses that are so excited about the features they’ve developed that they forget to focus on the features that truly meet customer needs. Make sure you understand the core reason customers would buy your solution, and tell a compelling narrative about how well you can meet that need. Which elements of your messaging do you emphasise when you pitch the solution to prospects, and how does that vary by customer segment? There may be additional features you need to mention to get deals over the line, but that core use case will be the reason they listen to you in the first instance.
Don’t compete on price, why else should a customer choose you over another supplier?
If you’re always talking to prospective customers about price, you’ll end up in a race to the bottom – and if you’ve got a good solution, it’s probably more expensive than the competition. To escape the spiral down to the cheapest option, can you articulate to customers why your solution is worth the cost? Can you explain why your increased price saves them money internally? Or reduces their business risk? Whatever benefit your solution provides, make every effort to quantify the benefits to the client. Do this well, and the increased price of your solution may well seem a small price to pay!
Decision-making: how can you take your proposition to market with maximum effectiveness?
Who do you need buy in from to smooth the path to purchase?
It may be easy to pick up the phone to the same old contacts you’ve been speaking to for the last decade, but are they really the right person to influence the purchasing decision? We frequently see clients who have ended up ‘pigeon-holed’ into a specific department, when they want to be selling a much broader solution to a wider set of roles. This often means engaging a network of different people within each organisation, all with a slightly different influence on the procurement process. If you’re just dealing with the procurement team, it’s much harder to convince them of the added benefits of your solution and very likely to come down to a tough negotiation on price. When you’ve worked out the people to target, you can work out how to reach them and the ideal timing to contact them – particularly aiming to coincide with the triggers that make them reconsider their choice of providers.
Can you show your customers what your solution is really like?
Before a customer has used your solution, they’re unlikely to know what it will really look like, which might make it feel more of a risk. They want to feel confident and comfortable that the solution will do what they need it to, what can you do to make it real for them? You need to give them all the evidence they need to feel like choosing you is low-risk, high reward. For B2B clients this almost always includes an element of convincing case-studies, showing your prospects that you’ve done this before with similar customers and it works like a dream. It may also include a demo or a trial, so they’re comfortable with the solution before they make the purchasing decision.
Where might customers feel the pain of adoption? How do you minimise this?
Not only does your prospect’s decision need to be low-risk, it needs to be as easy as possible. If choosing you means they will go through a year of integration hell where nothing works and they’re blamed for it, they’re not going to change. What can you do to minimise the pain of switching? Can you integrate alongside their existing solution so when they switch over it works straight away? Should you be seconding a technical team member to your client so they feel secure they can ask questions whenever they need it? The easier they believe the transition will be, the more likely they are to choose you.
Although every client in every industry is different, these points come up time and time again across almost all our B2B clients. If you’re wondering why your solution doesn’t sell better, check your offering against these points and you’ll find some of the most powerful changes you can make.
White Space Strategy offer bespoke strategy support across the B2B landscape. We regularly address this topic for our clients, investigating the nuances in their specific industries.
If you’re interested in discussing the points in the post in more detail, reach out to us to set up a conversation.
