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."