The internet has completely reinvented how sales teams operate. More than once, in fact. The power previously lay with the sales rep, who held product information, its value, and its benefits close to their chest. To begin the research process, users had to call a company and speak to a sales rep. Since the advent of the internet, that concept has turned on its head. Prospects can not only research the product or service they require; they can watch a video on its use cases, read reviews on others’ opinions, and receive a 360-degree panorama of how the product can fit into their organization. The power now lies with the buyer. As such, sales teams must reposition themselves as educators. As consultants in their industry. This brings us to the second reincarnation of the sales strategy brought on by the internet. Value-based selling. Sales Teams who embrace the concept of the value-based selling approach ensure that every interaction is tailored to the buyer’s specific needs, creating more engaging conversations and, in turn, building solid partnerships long after the sales cycle has ended. In this article, we’ll discuss the concept of value-based selling, the value-based selling approach, and the top concepts to help fuel your sales strategy in 2022 and beyond.
The value-based selling approach
The value-based selling approach shows how a solution will benefit the buyer and help them solve their challenges. Value-based selling delivers value that is most meaningful to the customer. Sales divisions must become equipped to quantify and communicate their unique business value. To do this, sales teams must take the value-based approach to customer interactions:
1. Reframe Your Sales Reps as Consultants
In a value-selling relationship, the customer no longer sees sales employees as “salespeople” but as “trusted advisors.” Keeping pace with an increasingly sophisticated and data-empowered base of buyers requires that organizations transform salespeople into consultative value sellers. The customer should feel as if they are speaking to a trusted advisor in the field, not a salesperson of years past, who is simply trying to achieve a quota. In short, customer interactions are no longer transactional but steeped in collaborative value management that benefits both parties.
2. Focus on Education, Not Selling [Moving Away from the Product Pitch]
Value selling does not encourage sales employees to simply “sell” to their customers but rather how they can help their customers. Sales teams using the value-selling approach tailor their conversations based on the buyer’s needs, priorities, goals, and desired business outcomes. Buyers have a lot of choices. Sales teams must move away from the standard product pitch and articulate why their solution is different. A value-based selling approach evolves the sales cycle from pre-internet days and puts the buyer’s needs at the forefront. To do this, sales teams must work harder to captivate their audience in an increasingly remote-based environment. Sales teams should position themselves as experts in their field- producing robust, informative materials to help arm the customer with relevant information about the company’s product or service. However, value selling does not replace the critical research and needs-based assessment all sales employees should conduct on behalf of their prospects. Instead, it focuses on empowering customers to make more knowledgeable decisions concerning the benefits vs. risks of purchasing a seller’s product or service. To capture a prospect’s attention, sales professionals must engage them with attention-grabbing, interactive presentations that leap off the screen.
3. Reframe Your Prospects Challenges
Just like stale PowerPoints or pitch decks no longer make the cut in today’s fast-moving environment, nor does the standard sales conversation. Today’s sales reps should frame conversations to get to the heart of a prospect’s challenges so that they can clearly explain why their product or service is a solution. Questions that sales teams can use to frame conversations:
- Does the buyer know the true extent of the challenges they face?
- Can the vendor’s expertise in the industry help them uncover challenges they didn’t even know existed?
- Can the vendor use its insights in the industry to help them understand what will happen (the negative consequences a company faces) if they don’t pursue their initiative?
- What initiatives does the customer have?
- What business problems do they have that relate to their initiative?
- What solutions from the vendor are going to solve that problem?
- What do they stand to gain from implementing the solution? (Better productivity? Increased revenue?)
- What is happening to the organization by simply maintaining the status quo? (Unnecessary expenses? Lost productivity? Error-riddled processes? Manual tasks that can be automated? Etc.)
4. Speak a Common Language
Savvy prospects will be tuned to whether or not you truly understand their industry and if your company is genuinely poised to help them with the challenges they face. If sales teams want to create meaningful value for prospects- they must learn to speak a common language. Sales teams can achieve such commonality by using value-selling tools like an ROI calculator or other visually-oriented, interactive tools. Additionally, sales teams must provide relevant, educational content oriented to the buyer’s pain points. For the benefit of the prospect, sales and marketing teams should work together to create helpful content that resonates with both marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and sales-qualified leads (SQLs).
What does value-based selling training do?
The exponential rise in data has empowered buyers more than sellers. Yet, sales management techniques have barely budged from decades-old practices. By focusing on a value-based selling approach, sales teams of all sizes can increase their ability to achieve quotas, achieve better quota attainment, and close bigger deals. According to the International Data Committee, deals sealed through the value selling approach are three times larger and four-and-a-half times more likely to create upsells. Furthermore, value-based selling allows sales teams to collaborate with the customer on value; not on price; moving away from a cost-based approach. Approaching the relationship with the customer in mind builds trust and creates a cycle of value co-creation, helping the sales team (and the company) stand out against the competition. For more information on value-based selling or how this approach can work for your organization, we invite you to schedule a demo or contact our team of experts. We are here, ready to help. DOWNLOAD NOW: [White Paper] Impact of Value-Selling
