Value is Not Universal
Some truths are uncomfortable. One of those truths we come to learn after much experience is that value is never universal. It does not live in your proposal. It does not hide in your rate card. It does not sit neatly in your deck. Value lives in the customer’s mind. And every customer carries a different picture of it. That means what you think is valuable may not even register for them. What you think is trivial might be priceless for them. This is the puzzle every seller must solve. Solve it well and you close more business than you can handle. Get lazy and present what you value instead of what they value, and you lose the customer before you finish the second slide in your presentation.
This is why the lazy seller fails. They walk in with the same canned presentation for every business. They brag about reach. They brag about impressions. They brag about spots and frequency. They vomit numbers and hope the customer cares. But the customer does not care about your commercials. They care about their foot traffic. They care about their phone ringing. They care about their particular brand of pain. If your ask does not touch that discomfort, you lose. Stop assuming your value is their value. Start learning what is important to that business in the that category at this time. Ok, we just made that sound so simple. But if it is that easy, why do most sellers never do it? The answer is it sounds too much like work. It takes curiosity. It takes sharp questions. It takes listening instead of talking. It takes shutting your mouth long enough to hear the buyer’s true fears.
Geroge Bernard Shaw, my favorite drunken Irish writer, said, “The only man who behaves sensible is my tailor. He takes my measurements every time I see him. Everyone else expects me to fit what they already have.” This is one of Shaw’s sharpest observations. And it hits home in the sales department. The tailor checks for change. Everyone else assumes none exists. That is the difference between relevance and irrelevance. It is how you get to the definition of value for the customer.
The best sellers are part detective. We use questions like lanterns. Each question lights up a dark corner of the buyer’s mind. The more corners you light up, the clearer the real problem becomes. And once you see the real problem, you know how to sell the real solution. This is the line that separates the order taker from the trusted advisor. Orders come and go. This is trust and it is what gives you real staying power.
How do you find each buyer’s unique value picture? How do you make it so clear they trust your offer without flinching at price? You start with better questions. Forget asking, “Do you want more customers?” Of course they do. More customers is table stakes. That falls in the ‘duh’ category. Ask instead, “Tell me about your best customers. Who are they? Where do they live? Why do they choose you over your competitor?” “What does one gain by shopping with you instead of x, y, or z. What is the biggest mistake the marketplace can make by not choosing you?” Now you have clues.
Do not ask, “Are you looking to advertise more?” Sure that is what you want to know, but not one of your prosects woke up this morning with the thought of how much more advertising they were going to buy this week, from you. Instead ask, “What happens if sales stay flat this quarter? What happens if they grow by fifteen percent? How does that change your business?” Now you see stakes. Do not ask, “Do you like this idea?” Ask, “How does this plan fit with what you told me about wanting more weekday lunch traffic?” Now you link your idea directly to their stated goal.
Do not ask, “Do you have any questions?” Instead ask, “What concerns do you have about this plan? What feels risky? What would you change if this were your money?” Now you invite the truth instead of polite silence. Good questions pull in honesty from your guarded buyers. These questions will turn surface talk into talk with substance. They build trust without fancy words.
Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” In sales, preparation is not your slide deck. It is your understanding of your customer’s situation. Good questions are how you prepare. Spend the first part of every meeting learning what the buyer values, from their point of view, not yours. Earn the right to make a recommendation later. Here is the simple truth most sellers ignore. If you are talking more than the buyer, you are losing. Your mouth should be dry from listening, not worn out from sucking all the words out of the room.
When you do speak, speak to what matters to them. Not what matters to you. Say less about commercial placements and rating points. Say more about the problem they need solved. One that ties directly to a real business problem. Say less about your station’s history. Say more about the outcome they want next month. This is the difference between saying, “We have the number one morning show” or “We are number one in news,” and saying, “Your best customer is listening to our morning show while they drive to your location.”
This is the difference between, “We reach 200,000 people every week” and “We put your message in front of 40,000 of your best customers every morning before they shop for what you sell.” Now these are the same facts. They are presented with a different framework. The first one is about you. The second is about them. Value lives in the frame. Bad sellers use generic frames. Good sellers build custom frames and shape them for each presentation.
This is where language comes in. Your choice of language shapes the client’s trust. Trust shapes their decisions. It works because it shifts the buyer’s focus away from price and onto results. When you talk about cost, they think about money leaving their pocket. When you talk about investment, they think about money working for them. You are the Doctor. The words are your scalpel. Use them to cut out doubt and stitch up belief.
Many sellers nod at this idea but fail to apply it. They write “Value Proposition” in big letters on a slide and then list a bunch of features. Features are not value. They are raw ingredients. Value is what those features do for this specific buyer at this specific moment. Maybe your station has the top weather coverage in the region. That is a feature. It becomes value only if the buyer cares about weather viewers. Well, weather viewers and their spending power.
It is up to you to be the guide. You must connect the dots. “Our weather alerts reach parents as they plan their day. That means your ad appears right as they decide where to grab lunch. That positions your café as the warm, convenient choice during bad weather.” Now the feature has been given a job. It solves a buyer’s problem. And the impact is drawn with a straight line. Never expect the customer to make the value leap for you. Make it so obvious that not buying it would feel foolish.
Your station has a huge social media following. That is not value by itself. Value is what that following can do for this buyer. Tie it together. “Our large social reach means we can boost your campaign on days you have special deals. That keeps you top of mind and drives more foot traffic when you need it most.” Features without connection is the equivalent of Charlie Brown’s teacher. It is up to you to connect your particular features to a direct, personal customer benefit. That is the pathway to the close.
This skill is not optional anymore. Buyers are sharper than ever. They do their own research. They ignore vague pitches. They cut spending that does prove results. If you want to survive, you must shift from pushing inventory to solving problems. Here is how you can make this part of your routine. Before every presentation, write down the buyer’s top three goals in plain language. Don’t write in your language, write it in theirs. Then, write down how your offer directly supports each goal. Don’t do this with generalizations. Do it with specifics.
Then, translate each point into their words. If they said, “I need more weekday traffic,” your presentation should say, “This plan brings you more weekday traffic by placing your message in front of commuters near your store.” Mirror their language. It shows you listened. It shows you care. It shows you built this plan for them, not for your commission check.
Value is not static. What they value today may shift tomorrow. A restaurant owner might care about weekend bookings in December. The same owner cares about weekday lunch traffic in March. If you present December’s plan in March, you sound clueless. This is why check-ups matter. This is why curiosity never stops. Every call is a chance to confirm, update, or refine. Professional sellers treat every conversation like new discovery meeting. They do not assume. They test their assumptions. This goes back to what George Bernard Shaw said about his tailor behaving sensibly.
Ask, “What changed since we last spoke?” Ask, “What new goals came up this quarter?” Ask, “What would make this plan a home run for you right now?” No surprises. No misfires. No missed revenue. It was Socrates who said, “Wisdom begins in wonder.” Good selling starts the same way. Curiosity comes before certainty. Questions come before answers. If you are constantly probing for fit, you build credibility.
Buyers buy from sellers they trust to deliver value. Not the seller who talks about value. It is the seller who deliver it. How do you prove you are trustworthy? You show your work. You say, “You told me you want more calls during slow hours. Here is how this plan does that. Here is when your commercials run. Here is who sees them. Here is how we track it.” You say, “You told me price is a concern. Here is how this plan pays for itself. Here is your break-even point. Here are examples of other clients like you who saw this work.”
That clarity and certainty builds trust. It removes doubt before it gains traction. Clear thinking leads to clear language, and clear language earns confidence. Confusion poisons your proposal. Generic words weaken your message. Recycled presentations drain credibility. Buyers respond to specifics. They believe precise solutions backed by real proof. Vague promises invite hesitation. Sharp explanations invite action. When your message is clear, decisions move faster, resistance fades, and momentum replaces friction. Clarity does not persuade. It makes the right choice feel obvious.
Value is emotional before it is logical. The buyer must feel that you understand them. Feel that you see their pain. And feel that you have a plan to fix it. This is why you should never wing it. Prepare like a surgeon. Listen like a therapist. Speak like a partner, not a vendor. Most sellers stay in the shallow water because they fear tough questions. They fear the answer might be awkward. They fear the buyer will think they are nosy or pushy. But the buyer does not think that. The buyer thinks, “Finally. Someone who gets it. Someone who cares enough to understand my very real problem.” No buyer ever says, “I wish my media rep would stop caring so much about my actual results.” Ask the questions. Swim in the deep water. That is where real trust lives.
Here is your checklist. Before the meeting you should research the business. From there prepare ten strong questions. Listen for clues and write down their words. I ask for permission to take notes. It lets them know I am serious about solving the problem. Often, I will record the conversation, again with their permission, and listen to it back at a later time. This is to be sure I didn’t miss anything. Talk less, listen more. Confirm and clarify, when possible. This will help you frame your solutions presentation in their words.
After your meeting, follow up fast. In your follow up, use clear, confident words. Restate your buyers goal in your recaps. Restate it every time you take their measurements. Map each part of your offer to that stated goals. Draw the parallel to your customer’s stated need. This is what real professionals do. This is how we sell without selling. We guide the buyer to see that the offer is not another ad schedule. It is a solution to a problem they care about. That is what makes the price secondary. It also makes you indispensable.
Value is a moving target. But when you train your questions, sharpen your language, and deliver real proof, you hit the target more often than not. You do not need magic. You do not need to discount. You do not need to chase every shiny object. You need to remember value is never universal. It is always personal. The lazy seller hopes the buyer sees it. The real sales pro uncovers it, frames it, and proves its utility. Which one will you be?
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Originally published at https://chrisfleming.substack.com.
