Value Selling Blog

When the going gets tough, the tough get going... working harder and focused on meeting their challenges. The tough ones in our business are those who can convince cautious customers to buy in an exceptionally challenging economic environment.

Has your organization built its marketing and sales programs around selling your product? Well, here’s a news flash. B2B customers don’t buy features and functions; they buy solutions to their problems. So not only should you be selling your solution, you should also be “selling money.”

I recently wrote a blog post for Amphora Consulting titled, “XaaS: Should You Jump on the XaaS Bandwagon?” In it, I contend that the following seven conditions must be true before deciding that switching to a subscription-based model is the best answer for your business.

I recently read a couple of articles about marketing during a downturn. Both urged businesses to resist the natural temptation to cut marketing during this, or any, crisis. They got me thinking about what marketing should be doing to prepare the business for the eventuality that things recover.

Few people like to talk about money during the sales process. Eventually, though, buyers will ask, “How much does it cost?” If the price is more than nominal, they probably need budget approval. How well can your sales team shift the conversation from finding and solving customer problems to money?

Successful business leaders make it a point to know how their business performs compared to peers and similar businesses. They strategically use this benchmarking information to strengthen all aspects of their business. And they understand its importance in improving competitive advantage.

I am always happy to provide value-selling training, but I hesitate when the organization hasn’t already invested in value selling tools or integrated value selling into its overall sales process. Why? Because in my experience, three critical components must be present to ensure a successful value-selling initiative: people, process, and technology.

The number one challenge in demand generation is persuading prospective buyers to give you their contact information. Without it, they remain anonymous visitors to your website, leaving sales without the ability to follow up and convert them to an opportunity.

They say hindsight is 20/20 and while it may be helpful to look back at 2019, it’s more productive to plan ahead. Now is a great time to create a marketing program for 2020 that will improve the quality of your leads, increase conversions and grow sales revenue.

I’ve heard it all when it comes to pricing strategies. Clients say they use a premium pricing strategy, or penetration pricing, or (pick your own) pricing strategy. But really... what is the one and only goal of pricing when you want to make a profit?