Companies want to launch new products, but salespeople are the opposite—they fear new products the most. Why? Although new product launches can increase salespeople's volume, companies will undoubtedly keep raising sales targets. Before launch, salespeople must use their visit time for market research, surveying terminals, distributors, competitors, and consumers, and follow the orders of the "lazybones" in marketing who never go to market. During launch, blanket distribution activities undoubtedly fall on them; if products don't get distributed or distribution rates are low, they'll be scolded by leaders. After distribution, they must worry about secondary turnover, with the company monitoring secondary turnover rates daily. If products sell poorly, they must help the company or distributors clear inventory. In short, for salespeople, nothing about new product launches is good! If it fails, it's even worse!
Moreover, salespeople have another biggest fear: if the product price is high, no one recognizes it early on, making it impossible to promote further, and they suffer grievances everywhere!
Since new product promotion is said to be difficult, and during the promotion period the price is indeed higher than competitors or breaks the salesperson's psychological bottom line, what should salespeople do?
Case: Coca-Cola's Qoo series launched with a price 20% higher than competitors, but through good and orderly market operations, it ultimately achieved a prominent market position.
Many other companies have also successfully launched products at higher prices than competitors. This is common in any enterprise.
In fact, product pricing is now generally based on consumer acceptance, with fewer products priced according to profit requirements. Although competitor-based pricing is common, many companies set prices slightly higher than competitors (for FMCG, one to several yuan higher), not necessarily lower. It's a common phenomenon for companies to price higher than competitors or position products at a high level.
As long as salespeople can uncover the supporting points for the high price during visits and communication, and get customers to accept them, high-priced products are not unsellable; they can even sell better than competitors and better than expected.
Based on real-world validation, when new product prices are high and cannot be reduced through internal adjustments, salespeople should make efforts in the following areas:
- Distribute as widely as possible to create a clustering effect Distribution is the "final kick" for new product launches, and it's the "first trick" for any salesperson promoting a new product. A high price only means there may be difficulty when intermediaries sell to consumers, but during distribution, intermediaries focus more on the price difference, not just the price. So, even if the product price is high, it's possible to distribute well by leveraging the price difference or other benefits.
For the company, although the product price is high, there is still an advantage in the price difference. In this regard, salespeople must clearly see the difference between high price and high price difference, thereby removing obstacles to distribution and sales, and quickly achieving product distribution.
- Develop a new product launch visit guide If the product price is indeed high and the price difference is not large enough to attract distributors or consumers—meaning there may be objections during promotion—then before sales visits, the company should uniformly create a "launch visit guide" or "objection handling guide."
Dig out all possible issues that distributors or consumers might raise during the new product launch, as well as the "knots" in salespeople's minds, and try to find all the advantages of the new product (even including the company's), use these advantages to address the issues (of course, they must be fully persuasive!), and describe them in colloquial language. This forms the main part of a "new product launch visit guide."
It can be said that during a new product launch, whether the price is truly high or even reasonable, the first reaction at any distributor or terminal is "The product is too expensive!" Getting favorable terms is the instinct of any buyer in a transaction. This "launch visit guide" will clearly distinguish between truly high prices and buyers' desire for discounts, which is very helpful for salespeople to resolve these objections.
Bringing up the issues first and finding a unified, best response is an important part of new product promotion.
- Find evidence of strong sales power and high price justification New products are often like newborns—the newer, the more favored by parents. So, whether it's the company or the salesperson, they must find the supporting points behind the new product, such as brand power, product appeal, channel strength, sales team strength, etc. The newer the product, the easier it should be to find these points.
How to find them? It's like the "several advantages" of new product sales in many pharmaceutical companies' investment brochures—strong consulting company guidance throughout, mysterious secret formulas, huge market and consumption space, close service and guidance, strong brand support, new concepts and new markets, etc. Although the price is high, there are actually many aspects that can make distributors money, and the company has fully understood consumer needs, with important factors that make consumers "must buy." In short, although the price is low (sic), the product is "value for money," and consumers will definitely buy enthusiastically because the company has researched them!
Of course, we cannot boast without basis; we should truly explore. For example, in the salesperson's own market, there may be other important factors such as weak competitors or high consumer spending power, which are all evidence for salespeople to persuade customers during new product promotion.
- Try to secure distribution policies (not sales policies), such as free gifts, free samples, etc. The distribution process differs from the sales process after distribution. The key performance indicator for distribution is not sales volume but effective distribution points, with the goal of getting more customers to try the product. So, promoting one-time consumer purchase is very important, and securing distribution policies to get customers to accept the product quickly is also very reasonable.
Everyone is familiar with sales policies, but may be confused about the difference between distribution policies and sales policies. Distribution policies are generally one-time and non-continuous, while sales policies mainly promote circulation. So, distribution policies are more aimed at terminals and consumers, such as display rewards and purchase gifts for terminals, and more gifts for consumers. Effective distribution policies can better facilitate product penetration into all corners of the market.
- Find value-added means, such as service, convenience, etc. If the product price is high and you want consumers to be willing to pay more, then the company or salesperson must find ways to add value, such as providing better service, greater convenience, more convenient packaging, faster delivery, and more satisfaction beyond the product price.
Of course, salespeople can also provide value-added services to customers through their own efforts during communication, filling the gap of price complaints with satisfaction beyond price.
A high price for a new product does not necessarily mean it's hard to sell, nor does it mean it cannot succeed. In the process of promoting new products, discovering more advantages and providing more value-added content are the main ways to address high prices.
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