I had an interesting conversation with one of my colleagues this morning. We are currently in the process of evolving our existing website. For this particular conversation we are adding additional pages to our website that outline the products we sell in more detail.
Enhancing our website was always part of the journey for our business, however after some conversations with some marketing guru’s the feedback we had received is, our website did not say well enough what we actually do. There was an agreement both internally and externally that we needed to be more specific on what we do as well as provide more detail on our products.
As an Asset Finance Specialist we have two channels to market.
For our direct business clients we sell a “payment solution“. An ability for a business to acquire the latest technology, whether it be software, hardware or services, without the need to dip into the bank account for a large sum of money. It does not matter whether our payment solutions is a Finance Lease, a Rental or some form of Managed Services Agreement. They all fall under the banner of a “payment solution” utilising various products.
However for our business partners (vendors), those that provide solutions to their own client base what do we actually sell? Are we selling them a payment solution? My argument would be No.
A payment solution is simply a mechanism (or a sales tool) that enables a certain outcome, and in this context increased sales. This is not what we sell to these partners. In fact we do not actually sell anything to these partners as we do not charge these partners for what we do. What we provide is education, or more specifically training.
We educate sales people on how to introduce the concept of an extended payment solutions. We show how offering an extended payment solution can close more sales, retain margins and increase client retention. To contradict myself, if anything what we do sell is our team. A team with a superior client service ethos backed by a simplified, fast process as we understand that the clients we deal with are not actually ours. They are the clients of our partners that we have been entrusted to look after.
So this brings me back to the start of this conversation and the question that was posed; what are the products we outline on our web pages that we sell. More specifically what do you really sell?
If I was to simplify what we sell. We sell an education around payment solutions.
- Do you sell a motor vehicle or do you sell a lifestyle choice?
- Do you sell a software solution or do you sell enhanced efficiency?
What are the products that you list on your website and then how do they compare to what you really sell?
Author – Craig Birchall