Business type: Established institution
Industry: Employee services
Product: Remote employee work eligibility verification
Platform: Sales
Result: 15% projected increase in sales by year-end
CLIENT SITUATION
Our client, an employee service provider, began selling a remote employee work eligibility verification product as a part of their broader employee onboarding solution several years ago. The demand for this product skyrocketed as the economy went into lockdown and work from home become the norm. At that point, the client saw an opportunity to raise the price, tasking their salespeople with introducing it as part of their portfolio to new and existing accounts. However, as more employees returned to the office, the need for this product was declining and the business was not meeting its revenue goals.
The problem arose as lack of continued adoption through the broader market and substantial discounting that resulted in low effective price. Our client was experiencing poor market penetration for a product that provides tremendous value to employers through government regulations compliance and seamless employee onboarding. The project was designed to understand why this was happening, and how to fix it.
OUR APPROACH
Through interviews with the sales team, we quickly discovered the product was not priced to its value. Many customers reported dissatisfaction in the product’s performance. As a result, salespeople felt like they couldn’t approach their market with it—and if they did, they offered significant discounts.
As essential to every project, our goal was to set price to value. We did this by first quantifying value. We assessed the dollar amount that the customer received when they reduced risk, reduced cost, and/or gained additional revenue. Once we identified the total value provided, we identified a capture rate based on key factors such as competitive environment or internal competencies.
We then took the various features of the solution and organized them into a package with three tiers of varying value and price. This will allow their customers to choose the tier that fits their needs and their budgets. It also facilitated sales conversations about communicating the value of the product.
Because the value of these packages was clear and the price of each tier matched value, salespeople were confident to introduce it to both new and legacy clients without having to give deep discounts.
BUSINESS IMPACT & TAKEAWAYS
With this new approach, we expect the product to perform significantly better. By aligning price to value, we solve two key problems.
- Limit the frequency and extent of discounting required to gain market acceptance
- Allow sales teams to increase volume as they could now sell to a wider range of customers.
This decrease in list price resulted in an increase on both realized price and sales volume. We expect a 15% increase in revenue by the end of the year.
Key learnings:
- Always do the legwork to align price to value. Determine the real monetary value of your product based on a value assessment, and price accordingly. Price evolves and the market changes, so it is critical to reevaluate pricing over time.
- Overpricing causes friction between customers and salespeople and limits the salesperson’s ability to sell the product. When the sales team can’t defend the value of the product, and the price point is too high, the team will stop being effective and often, they’ll stop even trying to sell the product. Overall product success will tank.
- Product packages are a useful way to give customers what they need at a level they can afford. Sometimes customers do not need the best of the best to meet their business needs. When the product tiers are aligned to their respective value, sales teams can defend that value and ultimately serve the customers’ needs in a better way.
