What’s your sales strategy for 2021? The global pandemic has wreaked havoc in every business sector and will likely dominate the economy going into next year. And the upcoming presidential election is sure to add more uncertainty. What better time to build a 2021 sales strategy that focuses on delivering business value?
Most companies develop sales tools with today’s goals in mind. As you consider whether to build or buy these tools, think about what it would take to create tools that add ongoing value to your sales process and help you continue closing more deals, even as your future needs evolve.
To effectively sell based on value, you need to first grasp the value your offering creates. That is where Grassroots Strategy comes in. Jeff Bennett and I recently published Grassroots Strategy: Cultivating B2B Growth from the Ground Up to share what we’ve learned about building marketing strategies around customer needs and proper pricing strategies.
Although we have many industrial clients, the adoption of value-based selling still lags far behind other industries such as software, supply chain, telecommunications, and computer and networking hardware. I recently pondered why this might be the case.
In the world of B2B sales, it’s rare to uncover a new opportunity at a trade show and then actually close the deal at the same show. In reality, all the hours and dollars invested in the show won’t pay off unless opportunities that otherwise would not be discovered are either closed at the show or more likely, closed with diligent follow-up after the show. This makes it especially important to have a winning approach to post-show follow up.
Grant Thornton’s 2018 CFO Insights on New Technologies research study reveals that “CFOs are playing an increasingly important role in influencing decisions related to technology.” At the same time the study found that “only 12% of executives strongly agree that they have an effective system of measuring financial key performance indicators associated with the implementation of technology.“
Presentation is everything, from food and fashion to thought leadership and value propositions. There’s a lot riding on how well your team articulates the customer’s problem and presents the value of your solution. When it’s done clearly, persuasively, and with a sense of urgency, buyers will take action quickly and decisively in your favor.
They’ve been to your website to research your product and download free content. They follow you on social media and learn from your posts without commenting. Though they lurk in the shadows, today’s buyers are hard at work educating themselves about every possible solution to their problem.
When you get right down to it, B2B deals are driven by the buyers’ desire to lower costs or grow sales. Even if they tell you they want to “mitigate risks” or “achieve compliance,” buyers still expect to achieve their desired outcome along with a positive impact to their bottom line.
I recently spoke with Mike Serulneck, an accomplished value engineer who has successfully developed and managed business value engineering and sales proposal teams at Tier 1 technology companies. During our conversation, Mike shared his experience using value selling methodologies to sell technology solutions, as well as his perspective on how value selling has changed over the last decade.
