The generic product is the basic, substantive product you are selling. Generic product describes only the product category; for example, life insurance, rental cars, or personal computers. Every Ritz-Carlton hotel offers guest rooms, one or more full-service restaurants, meeting rooms, guest parking, and other basic services. For Yellow Freight System, a company that provides shipping services, the generic product is the truck and trailer that moves the customer’s freight. At the generic level, Nordstrom provides categories of goods traditional to an upscale specialty-clothing retailer. The generic products at a bank are money that can be loaned to customers and basic checking account services.

The capability of delivering a generic product simply gives the marketer the right to play in the game, to compete in the marketplace.27 Generic products, even the lowest-priced ones, often cannot compete with products that are “expected” by the customer.

Every customer has minimal purchase expectations that exceed the generic product itself.28 Ritz-Carlton salespeople must offer not only a comfortable guest room but also a clean one. Some customers expect a “super” clean room. Yellow Freight System salespeople must provide clean, well-maintained trucks and well-trained drivers. The expected product is everything that represents the customer’s minimal expectations. The customer at a Nordstrom store expects current fashions and well-informed salespeople.

The minimal purchase conditions vary among customers, so the salesperson must acquire information concerning the expected product that exists in the customer’s mind. When the customer expects more than the generic product, the product can be sold only if those expectations are met. Every customer perceives the product in individualized terms, which a salesperson cannot anticipate.

Determining each customer’s expectations requires the salesperson to make observations, conduct background checks, ask questions, and listen to what the customer is saying. You are attempting to discover both feelings and facts. Top salespeople encourage customers to think more deeply about the problems they face and discover for themselves the value of a solution. They avoid offering solutions until the needs are clearly spelled out. If the buyer says, “The average gas mileage for our fleet of delivery trucks is only 17 miles per gallon,” the salesperson might respond with this question: “How does this low mileage rate affect your profitability?” To move the customer’s attention from the expected product to a value-added product, you need to keep the customer focused on solutions.29

Research reported in the Harvard Business Review indicates that it is very difficult to build customer loyalty if you are selling only the expected product. Customer satisfaction and loyalty do not always move in tandem.30 The customer who purchases the services of Ernst & Young Consulting may feel satisfied after the project is completed but never do business with the company again. Customer loyalty is more likely to increase when the purchase involves a value-added product.31

The value-added product exists when salespeople offer customers more than they expect and may not even know exists. Coupling CRM with a differentiation strategy provides one way for a salesperson to add value.32 When you make a reservation at one of the Ritz-Carlton hotels and request a special amenity such as a tennis lesson, a record of this request is maintained in the computer system. If you make a reservation at another Ritz-Carlton at some future date, the agent informs you of the availability of a tennis court. The guest who buys chocolate chip cookies in the lobby gift shop in New Orleans may find a basket of them waiting in his room in Boston two weeks later. The hotel company uses modern technology to surprise and delight guests.33

Several years ago, Yellow Freight System was a troubled, long-haul carrier offering customers a generic product. Bill Zollars was hired to transform the company by adding a variety of services built around unprecedented customer service. The new services positioned the company to satisfy a broader range of transportation needs. For example, the company launched Yellow’s Exact Express, its first time-definite, guaranteed service. Exact Express is now Yellow’s most expensive and most profitable service. Today, Yellow Freight System salespeople are able to offer its 300,000 customers a value-added product.34

Among the most important factors that contribute to the value-added product is the overall quality of employees with whom the customer has contact. Sales and sales support staff who display enthusiasm and commitment to the customer add a great deal of value to the product.35

After the value-added product has been developed, the salesperson should begin to conceptualize the potential product. The potential product refers to what may remain to be done; that is, what is possible.36 As the level of competition increases, especially in the case of mature products, salespeople must look to the future and explore new possibilities.

In the highly competitive food services industry, restaurant owners like to do business with a distribution sales representative (DSR) who wants to help make the business profitable. The DSR who assumes this role becomes a true partner and looks beyond the customer’s immediate and basic needs. The potential product might be identified after a careful study of the restaurant’s current menu and customer base. To deliver the potential product, a salesperson must discover and satisfy new customer needs, which requires imagination and creativity.

Steelcase Incorporated, a leading manufacturer of office furniture, has developed the “Think” chair, which is 99 percent recyclable and can be disassembled with basic hand tools in about five minutes. This $900 chair meets a growing demand for products made of parts that can be recycled several times and manufactured in ways least harmful to the environment. Steelcase developed this “potential product” after learning that customers are increasingly seeking environmentally safe products and are sometimes willing to pay a premium for them.37

The potential product is more likely to be developed by salespeople who are close to their customers. Many high-performing salespeople explore product possibilities with their customers on a regular basis. Potential products are often mutually discovered during these exchanges.

Every indication points toward product-selling strategies that add value becoming more important in the future. New-product life cycles are shrinking, so more companies are searching for ways to add value during the new and emerging stage. Some companies that have experienced low profits selling low-priced products are reinventing those products. They search for product features that provide benefits customers think are worth paying for. Maytag Corporation developed the expensive environment-friendly Neptune washing machine for customers who will pay more for a washer that uses less water. Yellow Freight System created value for customers with the addition of Yellow’s Exact Express and other service options.