SS#10: A reminder about value

And one tip that will change your communication with customers for the better

Author

Sean Collier
February 25, 2023

Hi, and welcome to Solar Saturday.

I’ve been in the Sales and Business Development side of the solar industry for most of my career (17 years in fact!). Most of the time I’ve worked for organisations that offer “value” at the core of it’s service.

Lots of folk in sales think that ‘value’ is a difficult thing to explain. Especially to customers, and even more so when trying to beat the “competition” to a sale or contract.

A: Value, in sales terms, is something that the customer should feel.

Unpopular opinion: It’s not a sales person saying “hey, BUY THIS…as it’s great value”.

It’s almost like trust. It has to be earned, and the customer has to feel good about it.

In the context of solar, there’s lots of value everywhere. From the modules and inverters (products) which offer features and benefits, to installers who add good quality workmanship and aftercare - it’s difficult to narrow down what is “value”.

This is where listening to the customer pays off, in my opinion.

In most cases (trust me on this) the customer knows what is ‘value’ to them.

It’s almost always NOT the cheapest - and customer know this.

I mention this today as I read about a residential solar customer - let’s say Mr Joe Public - and their experience in the solar sales process. They were shocked by the fact that, having achieved several quotes, he selected the one which offered him - in his own words: “good value but not the cheapest”.

I’ve seen lots of examples of sales people - in solar and other industries - assume that good value = the cheapest. I bet if you asked many, it’s the exact response you’d hear.

What struck me: the customer also commented that once he’d chosen a supplier to install his system, he went back to the unsuccessful installers to tell them. Almost all of them, apparently, told him “we’ll do it cheaper”.

What I am unpacking here is not that the solar installers wanted to “sharpen their pencils” (we all hate hearing that), but they had not really taken the time to listen to the customer in the first place, and could not really stand out as a supplier of ‘value’.

It’s an important lesson for us all in the sales community. I am not here to belittle or berate this particular example - I want you to take this tip away:

I recommdend you always ask yourself:

“Am I listening to this customer? What does this customer really want?”

I promise you, you’ll start to see better success and not be dragged into lowering your margin.

P.S. I know it’s very busy right now, but by mastering this, when times get sticky it’s a great attitude adjustment that pays dividends in not just transactions but also in general life.

Sorry to my non-salesy readers for a deep-dive on a sales issue this week!

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Sean