When you talk to prospects about your products and services, are you able to offer them several attractive options at different price points? Or, is what you offer more of a "take it or leave it" proposition?

An unfortunate reality is when all we offer is a "take it or leave it" proposition, some number of people will choose to "leave it." On the other hand, when we offer several viable options for them to choose from, they are much more likely to choose to buy one of the options.

I had this specific problem in my business (which is focused on helping companies build and manage top-performing sales teams). The story of how I solved it may get your mental juices flowing and help you find ways to solve it in your own business.

Let's turn the clock back a couple of years...

A key challenge I faced was I had a huge, glaring gap in my product and service portfolio. I had decent products at the low end (books, CDs, MP3s, etc.) and excellent consulting and training services at the high end (for which I earned an hourly rate or day rate). But, I had nothing in the middle. I had no way to help people who needed more help than my low-end products could provide...unless they could afford to pay my consulting rates. For example:

1. Sales Compensation: If a company wanted my help with creating or revising a sales compensation plan, the only alternative was for them to pay my consulting rate.

2. Sales and Sales Management Training: One-time training events usually don't create lasting changes in behavior. Considerable post-training repetition and reinforcement are required to create lasting behavioral change. But, if clients wanted my assistance with these critical post-training activities, the only option was for them to pay my hourly rate or day rate.

It became clear to me that I had to take a step or two backward if I wanted to take numerous steps forward. So, I decided to de-focus my attention from speaking and training for a period of time and focus it on building infrastructure.

Over the next several years I:

• Split an earlier version of a book I had written into two books (one for business owners, executives and managers; the other for salespeople) and completely re-wrote them based on the skills and concepts I had helped clients implement most frequently over the years
• Wrote down the step-by-step process I had used to help dozens of companies develop effective sales compensation plans and made it available as a moderately-priced sales compensation product
• Built the 80/20 Sales Leader membership website to provide a rich selection of online sales and sales management training resources, plus provide members with the opportunity to speak directly with me during several scheduled calls each month, all for a very affordable monthly fee
• Expanded the manuscript from my sales management book into a self-paced 80/20 Selling System™ home study course by:

• Adding in the complete contents of my sales compensation product
• Adding in the proprietary tools I use to develop performance-based sales recruiting ads and lists of performance-based screening and interview questions
• Adding numerous forms, worksheets and exercises

The annoying gaps in my product and service portfolio had finally been filled!

Now I could offer my prospects three different options at three different price points:

LOW: My low-end products provide a great overview of the approaches I recommend to selling and sales management. Plus, they serve as time-saving roadmaps when I work with consulting clients.

MIDDLE: If someone wants more assistance than the low-end products provide, but they don't have the budget to pay my daily or hourly consulting rate, they can purchase the sales compensation product or the home study course. If they combine this purchase with an 80/20 Sales Leader membership, they can also have four opportunities each month for brief telephone consultations with me.

HIGH: Of course I still offer a day rate for in-person training and consulting and an hourly rate for remote work conducted via telephone and webinar. These options work well for clients with critical needs that require in-depth, highly focused assistance.

It's a real pleasure to have three solid options (low, middle and high) for prospects and clients to choose from. Selling my products and services has never been easier! Every prospect I speak with feels like I am an expert in serving their type of business because I have an option that is "just right" for them.

Conclusion

If "take it or leave it" is the name of your current selling game, I encourage you to look for ways to give your prospects and customers several options (low, medium and high) to choose from. My experience has proven that when you give people options to choose from, they are much more likely to choose to buy from you!

©2009 Alan Rigg

About the Author

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of "How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance", and the companion book, "How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling." His 80/20 Selling System™ helps business owners, executives and managers end the frustration of 80/20 sales team performance, where 20% of salespeople produce 80% of sales. For more information and more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020sales.com.

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