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No matter how much you try to shield yourself, you’ll always be faced with someone who will challenge your products or services. In order to beat the toughest competitors, you need to show your offer in a way that appeals to your ideal clients. They need to know you have their best interests in mind.
You need to prepare if you hope to stand against other businesses in your niche-marketing space. You’ll be going up against some notoriously tough cookies in your industry. Their quality products, excellent track record and large user base can make them intimidating opponents.
Here are six selling strategies to give you firepower enough to surpass any competition and all but guarantee sales, no matter the situation.
1. Approach your prospects as if they’ve hired you.
This might seem a bit unusual at first, but it’s profoundly effective. Think about how other businesses would approach your potential clients. More than likely, they’ll work from a point of offering a sale or requesting to work with them.
If you want to beat your competition, you must do something to set yourself apart. Seeing yourself as already hired sets a different tone for the business interaction.
Instead of trying to sell your clients something, you’re relating to them as paying customers. The conversation changes from “buy this” to “I’ve identified a problem. Let’s fix it this way.” This tactic has the added benefit of enabling you to showcase yourself as part of your client’s team.
Related: Your Clients Have Decision Fatigue, You Caused It and It’s Killing Sales
2. Hold firm to your premium price.
Although low prices give the impression that your products or services are affordable, they can scare off clients. The reason is this: Low prices give the impression your products or services could be of questionable quality. Clients equate price with quality. High price equals high quality while low prices equal low quality.
When you stick to your guns on pricing, it clicks with them. They come to believe the product or service is worth the premium price, and this makes them see you and your business as credible.
3. Reel in clients with special offers, coupons and discounts.
Limited-time incentives such as special offers, coupons and discounts can win over potential clients. Price incentives hinge on the concept of scarcity when a lower price is offered for a very short time period. Once that period elapses, the price increases.
While some businesses are beginning to neglect this strategy in a bid to sustain high income, they end up losing customers to others.
Peter King is founder of the Mamma.com targeted-search engine for coupon and discount codes. He says that “offering discounts on your products can help kick-start a successful sales cycle for your business. Many of the companies that have listed their discount offers on our search engine have begun to experience a surge in growth. It’s not just about customers seeing your products, the price has to be a fit.”
Related: Earning Customer Loyalty With a Discount Is Not the Same as Competing on Price
People look out for such deals all the time. Some even use targeted-search engines to find coupons that will allow them to buy products at lower prices. And you can be sure that once they buy, they will become repeat customers.
4. Sell from the point of value, not price.
Leaning on the price as your comparative advantage over your competition will not move potential clients to deal with you. If you want to beat your competition, you must identify and promote the value your product or service provides.
If you can show you provide immense value compared to your competitors, you’ll beat them hands down. Fight to improve and enhance value in an apparent way.
Related: 5 Ways Brands Can Win Loyalty With Young Customers
5. Let your offers effectively meet your client’s goals.
This strategy certainly is related to the preceding one. But the aim here is to focus on helping clients accomplish their present as well as future goals. If you do, your product or service will remain long after your competitor’s relevant offerings fade out.
This strategy requires foresight. You must think several steps ahead of not only your competitors but your client as well. If you can project what your client’s need will be in a few years’ time and create an offering to satisfy that need, you’ll defeat your competition any day.
Related: 5 Ways Your Agency Can Improve the Client Experience
6. Use tiered pricing.
Provide your products or services under different tiers so potential clients see varying price points based on income or preference. The idea behind this strategy is attracting a wide range of customers. After all, you don’t want anyone to miss out. While your competition relies on only one tier and attracts a segment of the population, you’ll have a wider reach.
Each tier presents an alternative to the full product or service — commensurate with the price, of course. Even one-offs give clients the opportunity to get a taste of what you offer. When clients see a different price point for each tier, there’s a tendency to go for the tier with the premium price. This is a worthy alternative to the first strategy.
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