Value is in the eye of the beholder (not the salesperson)

Bill walks into a Chevrolet dealer, strolls over to a brand-new Corvette, and is outwardly getting excited as his eyes gaze up, down and all around the sports car. He then opens the door, slips into the driver’s seat and makes himself comfortable as he grips the steering wheel and places his right hand on the shift stick. It appears that he might need a napkin, considering the moisture coming out of his mouth. Rodney, a sales rep, approaches him and, without asking a single question, invites Bill to take a test drive. Bill is a bit uncomfortable with the offer, but gives in to the temptation and follows Rodney to the parking lot, where another new Corvette is waiting.

Bill starts the car, listens to the engine rumble to life, carefully moves the gear shift to first gear, lets up on the clutch too fast and stalls the car. The salesman encourages his prospect to start the process again. Not wanting to stall this time, he gives the engine much more gas, and the car jumps forward, almost hitting another vehicle, so he slams on the brakes and stalls the car again. At this point, Bill is breaking out in a sweat, is thoroughly embarrassed, and is certainly not enjoying the “test drive.”

Bill explains that he doesn’t have a lot of experience driving a stick shift, and has never driven a Corvette or, in fact, any high-performance car. Rodney then tells his prospect to exchange seats with him so he can show him how the car performs. After they both fasten their seat belts, Rodney accelerates and literally pins Bill back in his seat as he power-shifts through the gears, then slams on the brakes as the car approaches 100 miles per hour. He then demonstrates the cornering capabilities of the vehicle by drifting the car into a tight turn. After a few more minutes of “performance driving,” Rodney returns to the dealership. The salesman expects his prospect to be chomping at the bit to discuss the purchase of the Corvette, but Bill has other ideas. He is looking for the fastest way to exit the dealership and get as far away from Rodney as possible.

So why is the salesman confused when Bill has no time for him? The answer is simple. Rodney never took the time to understand the primary reason his prospect was interested in purchasing the car. He made an assumption that the reason was performance. While high performance is certainly the reason many folks purchase a Corvette, it is not the only reason. So, by focusing on performance, Rodney literally turned Bill off by making him feel uncomfortable not just as a passenger, but as a potential driver and owner of the vehicle. If the salesman had sat down with Bill and asked him what brought him into the dealership, he would have learned that a Corvette was his childhood dream car because of its styling and “sex appeal.” And at this stage of his life he could finally afford to buy one. He was, in fact, a little concerned about whether he could comfortably handle the car. By not determining Bill’s personal value proposition, Rodney effectively killed any opportunity to sell him a Corvette.

Similarly, when I was a sales exec for EMC in the mid ’90s, our primary value proposition was, in fact, high performance. Our data storage system significantly outperformed the equivalent IBM storage platform. We also had two other advantages that some prospects might value even more. First, our systems were totally redundant, meaning that for certain applications that required 100% availability, the EMC offering had advantages over IBM. Our data storage systems were also physically smaller. This could be a significant benefit for prospects who would need a computer room expansion if they were to continue purchasing IBM data storage. The only way to know the value your prospect sees from your product is to ask questions and NOT make assumptions. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.

It’s important to remember that the value of your product is in the eye of the beholder, not the eye of the salesman!