Robert T. Yokl, President/CEO, SVAH Solutions

All companies tend to train their sales reps to sell services or things, when they should be training them to sell concepts, ideas, or results. The reason why this tenet is important is that if you are selling services or things, your customer can compare your prices to your competitor’s, then select the lowest price offering. Whereas, if you are selling concepts, ideas, or results, you can differentiate yourself from your competition and then you can charge even more than your competitor.

Selling a Concept, Idea, or Result

When you sell a concept, idea, and/or result, you are entering into a new world of selling that isn’t based on price, but on creating a vision for your customer of how their situation will improve with your product, service, or technology. For instance, if you apply the Value Analysis Selling™ technique of functional analysis in your sales process you will be emphasizing what your product, service, or technology does (i.e. promotes safety, increases output, reduces waste, etc.) vs. just talking about a lower price. However, you must document these attributes in your value analysis studies, or your customers won’t believe your claims!

Most Products, Services, and Technologies are Spinoffs

If you would be honest with yourself, most products, services, and technologies in the healthcare market today are spinoffs (even high-tech devices like pacemakers) of other products, services, and technologies. They aren’t new, but are just some variation of what’s on the market already. That’s why it is critical that you sell a concept, idea, and/or result to avoid constant price wars with your competitors.