Mothball Selling - Creating Value Around Services

Have you ever been to your grandparent’s house and opened up the wooden chest to be welcomed by an appalling order of mothballs? It’s one of those smells that seem to stick with you and even though it may not be present at a later date, it can always be remembered. It’s something that ends up stinging your nostrils and leaves you with a permanent repulsive memory. I have had similar experiences when approaching a salesperson to only ask a question and instead they are looking for that hard sell. 

The way we do sales, marketing and business needs to change to provide the consumer with the most information possible.  Consumers in 2014 are the most educated consumers we have ever seen.  Any given consumer will have multiple sources of information at their fingertips that will help them to form an educated buying decision.  I am not saying we never ask for the sale, but we need to change our approach or we won’t end up having an opportunity.

We need to create opportunities for our consumers to learn. When a consumer learns something they automatically associate a value with what they have just gained. In sales if a consumer sees no value in your product, that product becomes worthless regardless of the price tag.  Here a few ways to clean out the repulsive mothball invested sales closets and offer a fresh scent to your sales strategy.

Tradeshows

Instead of giving out a pen with your name on it, pass something out that will brand your company and educate your consumer at the same time. We created a magazine that included educational articles, our portfolio and information about our services. I saw a number of people reading these articles while taking a breather between sessions.

Resources and Blogging

Use the blogs you write to back up the services you are promoting. Usually consumers won’t book an appointment for you to educate them on your services, so finding a different opportunity such as a blog or newsletter can be great replacement.

Removing the Hard Sell

What I often see in salespeople is that we get stuck into thinking our clients know everything already. So we gradually stop educating our consumers because we assume our information is common knowledge. Our consumers will become educated before making that decision, so if we don’t educate them, our competition will.  Try turning your closing statements from asking for the sale to asking for another appointment to answer any other questions. If you have answered all their questions, then you have met all the objectives and you can then ask for the sale.

Current Resources

Take a look at your marketing material and see how it’s performing. Is your website providing enough educational resources or are you just blasting out your services. Does your social media strategy dive into the lives of others to help them meet their needs or are you just pushing out a repulsive mothball scent.  Do you offer any free information sessions such as webinars, seminars or demos for your consumers to grow? 

Mothballs are great at one thing, repelling something away. Take time to sweep the closets and offer up an atmosphere that is welcoming, educational and creates a value around your company and services.