The Unveiled Route To Secure A Competitive Advantage.

Every now and then I hear a dealer considering adding a brand say they don’t want to pioneer anything. Do you think Ford is pioneering their brand? Why not? Should a 119-year-old brand with a global following and $136B in sales volume still be pioneering?

Ford’s marketing department will spend roughly $3B this year trying to influence buying behavior. Their marketing spend says they’re in brand pioneering mode.

If you are a car dealer, you’d probably want to sell a widely recognized brand, perhaps Ford, right? Thinking that Ford is a global brand selling 456 cars every hour of every day makes your life easier.

Wrong, life is still tough. Ford competes with Toyota, the number 1 maker in volume, who is selling 1140 cars every hour. And Ford competes with GM, VW, and other brands that comprise the top 5 automakers.

Despite Ford’s huge ad spend, it is only about 10% of what the top 5 builders combined spend trying to outcompete each other. Today’s buyers have abundant tools available to shop around. And they do, even if they have a favorite brand.

It’s that shopping around part that sellers disdain. Statistics show 95% of vehicle buyers shop digital sources, spending nearly 14 hours online searching, often using multiple devices to visit at least 4 websites.

Accordingly, believing that established brands bring easy money is akin to believing in the Easter Bunny. Your selling salvation comes via a different route.

If you want success in selling, you’ve got to understand that selling is competitive regardless of the products you sell. And for every product under the sun that’s widely known, there are legions making a killing selling fringe products.

The best sellers capture earnest trust quickly and easily. They are experts on what they sell. They know all of the features but sell solutions. The trick is not regurgitating product facts, the narrow path is understanding how features translate into solutions.

Nobody is buying a set of features, they’re buying peace of mind that their investment makes them feel better. Please don’t get fooled into believing there’s a difference between B2B and B2C when there is no difference. Both are transactions between people seeking a solution via a solutions provider. Sellers who best understand how their product checks the boxes of buyers seeking matches win bigger.

A B2B scenario might be someone buying nickel plating for a precision paper manufacturing roller system and B2C might be a bike builder selling a new carbon road bike. In both cases, it’s 2 people looking for a match of needs and solutions.

In a past life as a sales rep for a ski company, I loved selling performance, construction materials, manufacturing processes, athlete endorsements, and pricing. That barrage of content forced prospects to wade through a sea of data searching for what might match their needs.

The reality is that the majority of buyers want products that cosmetically reflect their personality, make life easier, and present value. Remember value is what you get, price is what you pay. Accordingly, value is a feeling. Value can be expensive or not. Time is money, so a $15M private jet might be the epitome of value for those who can afford it.

In reflecting upon my ski selling history, all buyers really wanted was a ski that looked awesome, and made them ski like a pro with the least effort and most affordability. Understand these traits are variable and defined by the buyer.

If you want to concentrate on successful selling and embed 3 secrets of success presented above do this:

1. Cosmetic appeal. This is the fusion of art and engineering. Apple nails this. Even a well-engineered product will fail if it’s not attractive. You know this. Countless products can solve your problems but you pick the ones that look best to you. If you’re a seller don’t stop with engineering, get the aesthetics right.
2. Make life easier. Look beyond your features, how will they improve life? You won’t find Mont Blanc pens focusing on engineering drawings in their marketing. Nope, you find the expression of a joyful, luxurious writing experience. Know anything about Rolex’s Perpetual Datejust mechanism? Me neither. But I do know that if you have a Rolex you will have the most durable and enjoyable watch ownership experience money can buy. I love my brother-in-law’s analysis of Sub Zero freezers, “You can buy a nicer refrigerator, but you can’t pay more.” Please read that again. He completely gets SubZero’s position but disagrees with their premise using their own language!
3. Present your value. If your product solves a problem, then it commands the price you ask. The seller selling at the highest price is perceived to solve the problem best. Luxury brands like Gucci sell prestige more than anything else. Thus, their Jackie purse with a price of $2500 commands a certain price for manufacturing plus the price of that brand’s prestige. If you have no prestige to sell, then all you have is a product. Your prestige may be your exemplary customer service, speed, or attention to detail, it comes in many forms. Without that something special you only have price to lean on. You don’t want that.

Intelligent sellers arm sales teams with selling programs infused with a marketing appetizer designed to make target buyers hungry to buy. If you’ve ever been to a Mexican bazaar, you know the sales pitch repeated at every stall, Hey, buy my stuff. Now imagine a Ferrari dealer adopting that technique.