How to Sell without Selling

When I was kid, I would frequently visit my friend Ryan who owned the crown jewel of all basketball cards: A Fleer 1986 Michael Jordan rookie card. At that time, in the early ’90s, it was worth about $500 bucks. 

For a 12-year-old kid, that was a lot of money. 

Now, that same rookie card in PSA 10 mint condition is worth a whopping $250,000! 

If my friend Ryan was crazy enough to sell me his Micahel Jordan rookie card today (which he still has!) for the same $500 bucks (hypothetically) would I buy it?

YES. 

In a heartbeat!

But why?

Because the VALUE (Michael Jordan rookie card worth $250K) is more than PRICE ($500).

And that’s today’s lesson: Value > price. 

Most successful entrepreneurs, business owners, and wealthy individuals (from my experience) all have this mindset. Price although important doesn’t outweigh Value. If you can purchase something where the value far outweighs the price you would do that all day long. 

When you lead with value, your product or service practically sells itself. 

This is because customers see for themselves that your service or goods will help them solve a specific problem. Value is the quality that renders itself desirable or useful. It’s “the thing” that helps your business sell without selling and makes your customers say to themselves, “The value is abundant and I want this thing…now!” 

It is your job to ensure the value of your “thing” is obvious and apparent. 

A good “value” discipline your business should live by is:

• To serve your customers & provide 10 times (or more) the value to what you charge

• Often referred to as the (10X Rule).

• Offer 10X the value of whatever price you charge for your services. 

For example, if your productized service investment is $2500, the total delivered value given to your customer should be 10X or more that amount - in this case, that’s $25,000 worth of value/utility your customer is receiveing! 

This is the picture you need to paint. 

When you look at it that way, your ideal customer should have no problems paying your asking price, because he or she knows there’s a legitimate $25K Return on investment (ROI) worth of benefits and utility in what you’re selling. Any savvy customer will take you up on this offer every time. 

This is the sweet spot both you & your customer want to be in.   

This is also the challenge of making not only a great offer but being able to also deliver that 10X value. This takes time, testing, and work. 

Three strategies to help you in the packaging of value:

Leverage Social Proof to Strengthen your Value Proposition

Of course, there are several strategies you can use in order for that customer to see that value. Sometimes it is obvious value like the basketball card example above. Other times (especialy in a competitive industry) you need to pull out all the stops you can. 

One of these strategies is Social Proof.

Your customer should already be enticed by your offering if you have a good funnel and sales copy in place. But you can pour gasoline on the fire by adding the “Power of Social Proof.” This means that if you have video (best) or screenshot testimonials of happy and satisfied customers, prospects that are thinking about doing business with you are more likely to buy from you. 

That’s the Power of Social Proof. 

In essence, the testimonials are doing the selling for your business and further validating the value of what you provide in a relatable way. 

The more testimonials your business has, the better. This “Proof” can come in all flavors. For example, Google 5-star reviews, Amazon reviews, Videos, screenshots of customer texts, and many more other types of testimonials can help your business sell with ease. I recommend use this Testimonial aggregation tool to embed and build out your wall of love. 

Each testimonial acts as a little salesman working hard to sell your product or service on your behalf. On a subconscious level, your prospect identifies with the testimonials and says to himself or herself, “These people are just like me.” Then, the prospect easily buys your products & services knowing you have repeatably executed your promise/value over and over again. 

Use customer success stories to sell effortlessly

A great case study or customer success story further helps your productized service business  move the football closer to the goalpost (AKA Sell Stuff). A video testimonial is a great highlight reel of key questions but a case study will be more specific on their journey + results as a customer. 

Prospects are naturally skeptical.

Bad actor marketers in the past have over-promised and under-delivered too many times. We want to do the opposite. 

Can you blame them for not believing YOUR COMPANY PROMISES? 

But your customer success story / case study will slap that skepticism right out of them.

When your prospect hears of a customer success story or case study from a real person, they’re more likely to buy from your business without you personally doing any of the selling. 

Here are some great examples of productized services that have not only great offers that hold tremendous value but also ample social proof: 

Cashflow PodcastingI love how the open their website directly with a customer tesimonial followed by ample customer examples and use cases. This helps paint the picture on example who they can help and the results they have generated. Within their pricing page they do a great job of outlining exactly what you get within each package. 

Speak On PodcastsTheir testimonial page is stacked with well produced video testimonials. Most people stop with a small handful of testimonials when in reality you need to stack endless proof. You can never have enough. Their pricing page also makes it incredible clear on the value you get from the investment. 

Draft.devI love their niche focus when it comes to content creation. They did a great job of standing out in a very competitive productized service landscape. They lead on the homepage with some great proof and case studies to establish credibility and value. As well, they establish their value very clearly with exactly what they will do for your company each quarter. 

Bottom line: Use a good customer success story / case study to help your business sell without selling!

Why Productized (Bundled) Products & Services?

Here is some gold advice you won’t hear from the Internet “gurus.”

If you struggle with selling your B2B services, sell them as a packaged product. “Productize” 

If this framework has never crossed your mind, here are some great reasons why your business should productize your expertise: 

• Having pre-built packages makes the selling process feel much smoother, and better helps you explain the value and price point.

• Productized services do not include customizations. This means it saves your business money, and saves you from scope creep, giving you time to sell even more. 

• Productized Services have a fixed pricing model. This means it makes the decision to buy from your company easier for your prospects & existing customers for budgeting purposes. Again focus on presenting clear value for the investment. 

• The productized service model can free up more of your time for projects you are passionate about and love.

• Productized Services are easy to quote via a set price. No more back and forth, estimates, and or proposals. 

• Confidently set your rates with the same flat fee for everyone you work with. Discounts, haggling, and nickel & diming you to death are things of the past! Your value is clear and consistent. 

• No more feast or famine hamster-wheel cycles! You now have more predictability and consistency in what you sell. 

• Helps you reduce your time on sales calls. According to HubSpot, your prospects are 12% more likely to get on a sales call with you for a 30 minute call instead of a 1 hour call. This is because the shorter sales call of 30 minutes or less means it gives both of you enough time to talk about your prospect’s business problems, agree on a solution, and sell them on the productized services.  Instead of overwhelming them with endless options & features, you recommend a pre-built package as a desired solution and are more likely to score the sale!

In summary, 

• A Sale happens only when VALUE exceeds PRICE

• Your prospects will gladly pay when the benefit or usefulness is 10 times the price paid

• Use Social Proofs to help you turbo charge your sales

• Use customer success stories & case studies to help you sell more; this strategy removes sales pressure

• Sell your services as a PRODUCT “Productized Services” to make more money and scale your offerings. 

Keep building!

Tyler