Value added selling is a sales approach that involves not only selling goods and services based on the qualities of the products themselves but also the additional benefits that customers receive as a result of making that purchase. The goal is often to attract the attention of a consumer by noting the basic benefits of the products under consideration and then moving on to identify additional benefits that may be especially helpful to that customer. At times, value added selling involves making ancillary products available at discounted prices when the main product is purchased, or offering some type of other incentives that the consumer can take advantage of at a later point in time.
One of the more common approaches to value added selling is to make note of a feature that comes with the product other than the features that the consumer was initially attracted to. For example, a consumer may need a reliable home telephone, and desire the ability to customize ring tones and save a certain number of telephone memories in the unit’s memory. The salesperson finds a unit that provides all those benefits for a price that the consumer finds reasonable. In addition, the salesperson notes that the unit also includes a speakerphone feature that can be enjoyed by purchasing a small external speaker that provides high quality sound production and hands-free telephone conversations. Since the external speaker can be purchased at a significant discount if bought at the same time as the phone, the consumer chooses to buy not one but two items from the salesperson.
Another approach to value added selling involves offering something free if the consumer takes action now rather than later. For example, a car dealer may offer a buyer the chance to secure an extended warranty plan free of charge if the customer will buy a car before the close of business that day. The rationale is that the buyer would probably purchase the extended plan anyway, so buying the car today rather than tomorrow will save money in the long run.
Value added selling can also be in the form of offering discounts on related products not directly produced by the seller, usually in the form of a discount coupon or a voucher code. For example, a supermarket may offer discount coupons for tickets to a local amusement park if the buyer purchases a minimum amount of groceries within a specified amount of time. In like manner, the manufacturer of ketchup products may offer discounts on hamburger or hot dog buns made by a business partner when the consumer choose to buy a certain quantity of ketchup. In order to achieve the desired result, value added selling must offer the customer something above and beyond what they expected to get, and that extra something must also meet a need or want that brings the client additional satisfaction.
