Cost saving has a limit, Revenue growth is limitless…

In my executive role as an operations head, while operational efficiency was worth looking at, I was always more excited with an opportunity to create a stronger impact through new revenue possibilities. I would collaborate with the seller promising revenue growth than the one promising cost saving.

 Hence as a seller, if I can position my products as ‘Revenue Generators’ rather than ‘Cost Savers’ then I have a better chance of winning the sale. Can it really be done? And how?

 Yes it can be done. Let’s take an example. A document management system is usually positioned as ease of managing document storage at much lesser cost to the physical way of storage. However, it can also be positioned as a solution for a fast response to customers, hence differentiating the client’s service in the market leading to more customers and increased revenue. Cost saving is a given.

How to find the new positioning
Insights – The key is to be on the lookout for Industry and Customer insights that has the potential of disruption or opening up of a new economic pocket. Are we paying attention to the changing customer and how the product / solution has impacted the revenue side in organisations who have been using it? As a seller in the B2B domain, not only the insights of my product / services is important, but even more important are the insights of my clients business. Because that’s when I can position my products / services to help the customer create disruption for revenue growth.

How to communicate the new positioning to the buyer
The customer should himself in the narrative – Like “One of our client, a law firm went through a very fast expansion and realised that only the old lawyers could do rainmaking since only they had the information on old cases in their heads. The new joinees knew nothing about the firm’s history and going through the physical documents was next to impossible. This led to low morale and high attrition apart from affecting the firm’s revenue aspirations significantly. The availability of real time information is not just desirable, but is mandatory to even retain customers who in this internet age expect sellers to know their entire history. Hence not just the new business but the old business was also at risk. We suggested deploying our document management system which comes with a secured mobile app for accessing the documents on the go from anywhere in the world. The solution increased their sales conversion by 20% in addition to also saving a million Rupees per month.”

Revenue is the very reason for an organisation’s existence. By positioning the solution from a solution to reducing costs to a solution for increasing revenue one can make the product / service a “Must Have” for the customer instead of just “Good to Have”.