Does your value proposition articulate how your offering solves a customer’s business challenges or is it a jumble of features/benefits? The sophistication of a value proposition ranges from being stuck on feature selling to one that’s fully developed and helps win business. To find out if you’re at square one or doing pretty well, think about your value proposition in terms of the continuum below.
A signed contract signals the start of the final step in the Value Lifecycle: Deliver and Measure Value. This step not only strengthens your relationship with your customer, but enhances your capacity to develop new offerings and improve existing ones. Here are the top three objectives in making it work.
Ask the VP of Sales and the VP of Marketing at any company how well their teams get along and you’ll likely find some level of friction. Salespeople complain that marketing doesn’t provide enough leads, and that leads are not “sales ready.” Marketing complains that salespeople fail to follow up on leads properly and bungle their own opportunities. The complaints have been around for some time and there’s a bit of truth on each side. One thing is clear: if companies want to maximize revenue potential, they need to make sure sales and marketing are putting forth a coordinated effort. Here are five solutions to get your sales and marketing teams on the same page.
Well if you’re not going to lead with the demo, what should you lead with? Consider that old quote, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” The best opportunities can be found when initial conversations center around the prospect’s business problem.
Do you know the difference between “ROI” (return on investment) and “ROMI” (return on marketing investment)? Occasionally we’ve noticed that some of our discussions about ROI have led to some confusion among our readers. I suspect this is because when people hear “ROI” and “marketing” they primarily think of “return on marketing investment” (ROMI).
Do you ever downplay the value of your offering because you’re afraid prospects or customers won’t find the estimated ROI believable? I’ve had many discussions with B2B salespeople who say they tone down value as soon as ROI calculations start to become “too high.” For example, let’s say a salesperson’s solution costs $1,000, and their ROI calculations show that the prospect will receive $100,000 worth of value. Feeling that the resulting 9,900% ROI is unbelievable, the salesperson will say, “We don’t really deliver $100,000 of value. We actually deliver $10,000 of value.” The salesperson believes that a 900% ROI sounds more believable to the prospect.
By Doyle Slayton Do you ever feel like you're losing control of the conversation during a prospecting call or sales appointment? You quickly realize you better regain control of the sale, or you're going to lose the deal. Some prospects engage you with a multitude of questions around product features. Can your software do this... can it do that? At first, you think, "Wow" this customer is really interested! Thirty minutes later you realize... wait a minute... we're nowhere close to getting this deal. Here is a technique you can master to regain control of the conversation. I call it the Statement, Benefit, Probe technique.
Sometimes the way you talk about a customer’s problem can make all the difference. In our experience, there are lots of ways to encourage prospects to think about their business problems with renewed urgency. The next time you want to light a fire under your prospect, try one of the following conversational approaches.
Recently I read a MarketingProfs blog post reporting that business decision-makers are 10% more likely to consider B2B brands that consumers know and feel connected to. The report, which was based on data from a survey of 9,500 global consumers and 450 business decision-makers, included some interesting charts and categorized companies in four ways. Known, but not relevant Highly relevant Limited relevance Not relevant
Value-based sales is a popular term used by many companies who claim that their organization provides customers with the best value. From tech support to delivery speed, from warranty policies to company reputability, there are many factors a company will claim that make them a “value-based seller.”
