Hardwood Floors February/March 2025

Sales Savvy (Continued)

Imagine asking your existing customers a similar question:

“Mr./Ms. Customer, knowing what you know now and based on your experience with our company, would you still choose to work with us?” How many of your customers would confidently say yes?

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Value is a trade-off between what is gained and what is sacrificed. In Value Added Selling, we focus on maximizing gain, but we must also respect the role of sacrifice in every decision. To illustrate, consider NVIDIA – a company whose rise underscores the weight of sacrifice. Today, NVIDIA is the most valuable company in the world, with a market cap exceeding $3 trillion. When Jensen Huang, co-founder of NVIDIA, was asked recently how he would advise his 30-year-old self and if he would retake the same path, his answer was unexpected: “I wouldn’t do it.” He admitted the journey was “one million times harder than I expected.” Despite NVIDIA’s monumental success, Huang’s reflection reveals an unfiltered honesty about the immense sacrifices made along the way. What if you applied this perspective to a customer interview? Imagine asking your existing customers a similar question: “Mr./Ms. Customer, knowing what you know now and based on your experience with our company, would you still choose to work with us?”

How many of your customers would confidently say yes? Was their sacrifice worth what they gained? This is the true acid test of a value-added partnership – a question that reveals the real balance between gains and sacrifices. Paul Reilly is a speaker, sales trainer, author of Selling Through Tough Times (McGraw-Hill, 2021), co-author of Value-Added Selling, fourth edition (McGraw-Hill, 2018). For additional information on Reilly’s keynote presentations and seminars, call 636.778.0175 or email paul@reillysalestraining.com. Visit tomreillytraining.com and sign up for the free newsletter.

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