Value Selling Blog

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.

Everyone loves a good story – from fables and folktales to case studies and compelling copy in marketing campaigns. A well-crafted story clearly illustrates how your solution adds value to an organization, and elicits a positive emotional response from the reader. If you can help readers visualize the benefits of your product or service, you are many steps closer to closing the sale.

One of the greatest advantages in selling is the ability to understand how CFOs (a typical approver) think. That’s particularly true if you’re selling a technology solution. Why? Tech sales generally represent large investments, and the job of any CFO is to make sure that any major expenditure will yield measurable results and a good ROI.

As the steward of money within the company, CFOs wants to make smart investments. Your job as a seller is to provide proof of value. Although you might be extremely personable, likeable, and engaging, it’s important to realize that the typical personality of CFOs is not built to make decisions based on whether or not they like you.

In today’s economy, having a compelling business value proposition and being able to deliver against that promise is not a "nice to have," it’s the price of admission. Companies today constantly vie for business decision makers’ attention and the opportunity to sell their product or solution.

How well can you describe the value of your offering to different market segments? Correctly communicating value at the segment level is critical to any successful business strategy. Unfortunately, many B2B sales and marketing professionals communicate value in broad, generic terms, or fail to customize their language to appeal to different market segments.

By Jeff Bennett and Darrin Fleming

This week we're republishing one of our most popular posts about value propositions. We'd love to get your thoughts on this topic; please leave a comment or contact us directly.

When building relationships with buyers, it’s important to choose your words carefully. We’re not just referring to small talk or the language of negotiation. We’re talking about the specific words you use to describe your offering and what differentiates it.

A lot of sellers and marketers make the mistake of using what we call “ity” words when attempting to convey the value of their offering. For example:

Great value propositions are essential if you want to prospect effectively and win more customers. Despite this, we’ve found that these propositions can be tricky for both marketers and sellers alike. 

Often they simply aren’t sure what their value proposition is. This is common at companies that sell complex products and/or have multiple product lines/business units. Such companies could have hundreds of different propositions aimed at their different market segments. In other cases, marketing and sales teams don’t know their value propositions because their companies have never embarked on the proper process to formulate them.

If you want to increase your average deal size, the best thing you can do is learn to sell based on value. That’s because a value-based selling approach helps you justify your price and expand cross-selling and upselling opportunities. Here’s how it works.

Focus on Value (Not Features and Benefits)

To increase your average deal size, start by learning how to talk about the customer’s business challenges. Specifically, think about how your solution impacts situations or circumstances that require your customer to 1) spend money unnecessarily and/or 2) not achieve their potential in terms of sales revenue.

What separates good companies from great ones? 

Truly exceptional companies understand that customer value is the sum total of everything they do, not just the product they sell.

Successful marketers and salespeople strive to prove value every day. For example:

• They prove the value of their offering/solution when they talk with or prepare materials for customers and prospects.
• They prove the value of their marketing spend internally.
• They prove value to customers in order to nurture existing relationships and open opportunities for growth within accounts.