After I received a couple of comments from my post last month, I feel the need to explain myself in a little more detail. First, yes I’ve been in the selling trenches and I know it’s not easy, but please keep in mind, it’s about positioning yourself to be the value supplier. Plus, I have no doubt there are some customers who only think in terms of who’s the cheapest number. But think about it, do you really want to do business with that type of customer?

I’d like to approach this from a different angle. First, stop looking at your customers for help; they are only reacting to what you’re selling them, or not selling them. You need to start looking internally. How are you different from your competitor? What measurable value do you offer, or what measurable differentiator do you offer that you can say that your competitor can’t?

Some companies don’t know, and/or really haven’t thought too much about it. If you don’t know, or don’t have a measurable differentiator, you need to find one or create one, otherwise your competitors can say that they can do what you do. Then, it is all about price! The most important part of this is that it must be measurable. You can’t just communicate your value by selling with platitudes.

So, your challenge is to find out what value you are selling. In other words, what’s the reason your customer is telling their friends to explain why they buy from you? If it’s not service or quality, then they have no choice but to establish your value based on price. Again, because you haven’t communicated any other value, price is the only thing they have to compare you to your competitor.

Lastly, your differentiator must be communicated in a measured form, something like: We’ve had a third party certify that our orders are shipped on time and filled correctly 95% of the time. This cannot be done in a vacuum and it’s not a one-shot deal; you’ve got to have your entire company’s buy-in effort.

Finding or creating your company’s differentiator is the seed to innovation! Because I always say, “If you’ve got nothing else to sell, you can only sell price!”