Whenever you



can, increase the hard- or soft-dollar value of your product. The easiest and

fastest way to accomplish this is to ask your customers how you can improve your

offering. After all, that's what customer surveys are for.

Now take a

moment and complete the following three-step exercise:

 

1.        

Write down all the value you deliver to your prospects and customers free

of charge. This list should include all the items that you deliver that don't

show up on your invoice or the cash register receipt. Examples include expedited

delivery, a help desk, pre-installation consulting, installation and setup,

warrantee periods, first-year service, extended service hours, optional

equipment, return policies and so on. Try to list at least five items and write

your value down on a separate sheet of paper.

 

2.        

Attach a dollar amount to each of these items of added value. In other

words, what would it cost your prospect if he had to pay for all the things you

typically deliver for free? Make sure your estimates are realistic.

 

3.        

Include a breakdown of the aforementioned value in your next 10

proposals, presentations or on the merchandise price tag. As the prospect

understands the value that you deliver, you can begin to appeal to his greed by

"reducing" the overall price by providing free services. You can do this with

statements such as, "On this slide, we've listed the price for each of the added

value initiatives that we provide to our customers free of charge. We wanted you

to know that it's because of this value that our price and cost of ownership is

actually 30 percent below that of our nearest competitor."