Ways You Can Increase Your Perceived Value
Jul 19, 2023
In a noisy market, many of your prospects are hearing the same thing over and over and over again from your competitors. Catch phrases like "We are licensed, bonded, and insured" or "We guarantee our work" ring out over and over again. It gets to the point where your prospects are judging on price alone because everyone sounds exactly the same. BE DIFFERENT!
If you increase your perceived value, they'll be open to paying more.
I always gave the example of the #1 cheapest price new car vs the #1 best selling vehicle. The Chevy Spark is about $15k price and is the least expensive new car out there as of 2022 according to Car & Driver magazine. Conversely, the #1 selling new vehicle is the Ford F-series at more than double the price at a base model.
If people bought on price, there would be more Sparks on the road. People don't buy based on price. They buy based on value, or in this example leg room, safety, utility, etc.
Ford positioned themselves at a higher value. We can each do the same thing in our cleaning businesses. Many cleaning services make a big mistake and list out what they think is value, like "licensed, bonded, and insured". Well, isn't everyone or nearly everyone saying that? It doesn't differentiate your cleaning company. Or they put that they offer weekly, monthly, etc. cleaning. Isn't that assumed? No value. "We do detailed cleaning" or something like that. Who doesn't? They make themselves appear the same as everyone else. When the prospective customer can't see the differences, all they have to go on is price. So they buy from the cheapest offer.
But you can differentiate yourself. Make a list of things you do that you feel NOBODY else does in your market. Make sure that thing is something your client may want. This is called a unique selling proposition (or USP).
Our USP at our cleaning company was that we focus on QC in 3 ways: 1) We use technology to digitally measure the clean of a surface, 2) We use a tool to quantify the visible clean of a surface, and 3) we utilize a 3-step supervisory process to guarantee your place remains clean. Nobody in our market talks about the levels of clean. But this is one example. We could have gone a number of routes like utilizing the 5 senses for a great clean, or using a 12-point selection, interview, and hiring process on employees, or how we have dozens of different certifications and accolades. Heck, for a while, if you hired our cleaning company, we would guarantee that you make money through our connections, network, and leads for your own business.
Take time to review what make you unique. If you can't find that differentiator, then create a new process going forward. The more you look different, and provide value, the greater the odds your prospect would be willing to pay more. Incorporate that USP into your marketing, your proposals, and your sales process.
