Sales professionals like to talk about the concept of “value.” “Selling on value,” “Value based sales,” “Sell value not price.” These are important in complex sales, but I’ve noticed that we don’t always agree on what the word “value” actually means.
In fact, I think we often define it incorrectly, and that incorrect definition of value leads to all kinds of problems. So how should we define value in complex sales?
Too often salespeople think of value in terms of product features. Sales management and training doesn’t often work hard enough to dispel this notion.
In consumer sales, “value” is sometimes used to mean a better product at a lower price. Or just getting it at a lower price, regardless of the quality.
If you listen to the ad copy coming from Salesforce, you might get the idea that “value” means having “a 360-degree view of the customer,” “a single source of truth,” or “the latest AI innovations.”
In complex sales, however, none of these things is actually true value. Value is not:
Instead, to discover value in complex sales, we have to look to the customer.
In complex sales, the only value that matters is determined by the customer. In short, value = the customer’s desired outcome.
Salespeople don’t always want to hear this because it means they can’t just memorize the best features and recite them. It means they have to take the time to understand what the customer wants. And not just what the customer says they want.
In short, value = the customer’s desired outcome.
The customer may say, “I want a new CRM,” but there is always a desired outcome that is the deeper value for them. They may want a stronger sales team, higher profits, less paperwork, easier collaboration, or simply to get away from a vendor they don’t like. There is no way to know what the desired outcome is, until you ask.
It’s important for your sales teams to understand your company’s position in the market, your strengths, and your key messages. But these things are not the “value” that your customers care about. Because “value” is determined by the customer’s desired outcome, there is no one thing that is valuable to every customer.
In fact, in complex B2B sales, there is no one thing that is valuable to all of the stakeholders even within one potential customer. Within any potential client organization, every stakeholder will value something different.
Sales professionals succeed in complex sales when they learn to explore and discover the different desired outcomes of each stakeholder. For instance, stakeholders considering a CRM purchase may include a sales executive, a CEO, a CFO, members of the sales team itself, and perhaps an employee who has been tasked with researching CRMs. Additionally, there may be sales trainers and consultants who are involved in the purchase.
Salespeople often make the mistake of assuming that the first person who reaches out to them is “the decision maker.” But the person who reaches out is often just a mid-level employee who is gathering information. To them, the “desired outcome” may be as simple as a completed spreadsheet to send to a superior.
Overly eager salespeople may readily provide all the data that is requested by this researcher. But because the seller has no idea what the other members of the buying team value, they have killed the sale before it has really begun.
In this example, each of the (more influential) stakeholders values something different. For instance:
But you can’t know what each stakeholder values until you ask the right questions. And until you do that, you have very little hope of selling on value.
In order to discover value in complex sales, your sales team must master a large number of skills, including:
Develop a sales process that focuses on discovering what the customer values, or partner with a consulting firm to help you do so. Train and coach salespeople and managers in the necessary skills. Then equip them with a tool like Membrain to help them follow the process and continually improve their skills and effectiveness.
Check out Membrain’s partner page to find a vetted and approved sales consulting partner, or reach out to us to talk about how we can work with you to help your salespeople have better value conversations.
George is the founder & CEO of Membrain, the Sales Enablement CRM that makes it easy to execute your sales strategy. A life-long entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the software space and a passion for sales and marketing. With the life motto "Don't settle for mainstream", he is always looking for new ways to achieve improved business results using innovative software, skills, and processes. George is also the author of the book Stop Killing Deals and the host of the Stop Killing Deals webinar and podcast series.
Find out more about George Brontén on LinkedIn
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