Developing a solid business case is a critical step in the B2B sales process. It involves creating a clear and comprehensive argument that presents the financial benefits of a solution so that a customer can make an informed purchasing decision.
I recently reflected on what might cause sellers to reassess their value pricing and value selling strategies in a changing economy. While both are rooted in value, value pricing and value selling use different tools with different purposes and reference sets. Let’s take a moment to review the basics.
The biggest gap between sellers and buyers is a shared understanding of a solution’s value. This gap leads to long sales cycles or worse, deals that just fade away. Overcoming this chasm can be accomplished using value selling tools, which function as a Rosetta Stone to unlock insights for both sides.
Labor savings is the value dimension most often challenged by prospects when building a business case. Why is it so tough to get customer buy-in for your labor-saving estimates? While the answer will vary by company, these hesitancies are often at the core.
Value propositions need to be constantly refreshed as customer, competitor, and market dynamics change, which is all the time. Successful, energetic companies embrace this renewal and use it to sustain ongoing profitable growth. Let’s examine more closely why and how to adopt this approach.
When meeting with C-level executives or a VP of Sales or Operations, I am often asked how and when to introduce selling value to their sales team. They all believe in the importance of creating a value-based sales strategy, but they struggle with its implementation.
Two years ago, I heard a “value nugget” that has influenced how I help organizations define their value proposition and distill it down to three words or less. It came from John Chambers, former Chairman of Cisco Systems, who grew Cisco’s annual revenue from $70 million to $47 billion.
Highly effective B2B customer segmentation goes beyond buyer personas and firmographics. By using today’s intelligent value selling tools, successful marketers are realizing profound, actionable insights to more fully inform their segmentation initiatives.
The most important path to effective product management and marketing is a deep understanding of your customers’ needs and alternatives. A successful growth strategy differentiates your product from the competition's and delivers a persuasive value proposition.
Here’s what I’ve discovered after working with thousands of sellers around the globe for over 20 years: a very small number of sales reps conduct business value conversations with their buyers. This is despite the reality that value selling improves margins, close rates, and customer satisfaction better than any sales strategy out there.
