Value Selling Blog

Someone performs a search using keywords that lead them to your website. Maybe the prospect scans the page, clicks on a couple of products or services, and then leaves without giving you any information.

Or maybe the prospect fills out a form, but when you make contact, you learn early in the first conversation that the prospect doesn’t know your company or your solution isn't appropriate.

What if you had an easy way to get those same prospects to stay on your site longer while learning more about their problem? 

Value selling tools such as assessment, ROI, and TCO tools, as well as value calculators, all fit neatly into your marketing and sales efforts. Deploying these tools is like giving your marketing automation platform a bunch of power-ups, leveraging even more of its strength.

Marketo, Pardot, HubSpot, and ActOn are all major players in the marketing automation arena. Other marketing solutions are available, with new products and services introduced every month. 

In each case, you can build value selling tools into the automated marketing and sales workflow, creating a smoother path through the sales cycle.

Because an assessment tool is so engaging, it can be used at every step of the sales process.

Essentially, an assessment tool is a versatile tool that can be designed to evaluate specific situations and guide the prospect through a customized line of inquiry based upon their answers to previous questions. This process helps the prospect have a better understanding of the problem at hand and the type of solution s/he needs.

Here’s how these tools can be leveraged at every step of the sales process.

Successful B2B marketing campaigns attract and engage buyers and decision makers, and set the stage for the sales team to close the deal. More specifically, value selling campaigns emphasize the business value of solving a set of problems rather than the features and functions of the offering and reveal how it can reduce expenses and/or increase revenue.

Providing a business value framework is an excellent way to capture decision makers’ attention and interest. Value selling tools such as interactive assessment tools and value calculators make it easy to provide such a framework and generate leads.

Has your sales cycle grown longer and more complex? Are you challenged by new buying behaviors that exclude you in the early stages of discovery? Chances are you’re also faced with more restrictive corporate and financial oversight, which shifts purchasing authority to CFOs and inter-departmental committees.

How can you get the attention of buyers and decision makers in such a dynamic sales environment? A proven approach is value selling, a strategy that develops distinct sales messages focused on the bottom line. When all is said and done, prospects want to know how investing in your solution helps save money, increase sales and revenue, and achieve pertinent business goals.

Sometimes the earliest stage in the buying process isn't when a prospect realizes he or she has a problem. It’s a nagging feeling they have about the status quo. Even though things are going well, they still feel they could somehow be better.

This is an opportunity for sellers and marketers. Your job is to paint a vision of what “better” looks like (including, hopefully, the idea that your product or solution can help prospects get there).

When customers make a purchase, they typically go through a few different stages. As a seller or marketer, your job is to help shepherd the customer through these stages quickly and efficiently.