What is value-based selling?
What is value-based selling?
Maximum support: value-based selling focuses on added value
A good pitch gets to the point. In a cold call, salespeople use it to briefly yet convincingly explain what their product can do and what added value it provides. Of course, we are at the very beginning of the customer relationship and the arguments are correspondingly general. But there is already a crucial consideration here: "I have to deliver a value proposition, otherwise I will first lose the attention of my counterpart and then the entire willingness to talk." Value-based selling transfers this approach to the entire sales process. Added value is the central driver for cooperation between sales and prospect. Making this value more and more concrete is the best guarantee for quick (and positive) decisions on the customer side. In this article, we will show you how you can use the value-based selling method to build up a promising dynamic without appearing as an offensive salesperson.
What is value-based selling?
The sales process is always built around this factor: What added value can I generate for customers with my offer? The MEDDICC sales method is no different. Salespeople should always continue to qualify to ensure that their offer answers exactly the questions that underlie the prospect's challenge. Digging deeper to find the actual cause and expanding problem areas is what the individual search for solutions by sales and prospects is all about. It only works if sales and prospects form a team - with champions as key people.
During this process, the people in the target company develop a feeling for the added value that they are constantly missing out on. They already have a vision in their heads of the situation after the purchasing decision and successful implementation. Every delay pushes the desired scenario further into the distance and makes the current situation appear increasingly unsatisfactory. The next stage decision is made more quickly if salespeople awaken this feeling in the relevant stakeholders.
In value-based selling, salespeople primarily choose a consultative approach for this purpose. They do not have to exert any direct pressure to bring about a deal. Many people perceive wanting to sell something as something negative. "The other person is only interested in closing the deal quickly, whether the product really helps us is secondary at best." Many poor sales practices are to blame. The value-based selling approach is designed to prevent such thoughts from arising in the first place. Added value should be the guiding principle for the purchasing decision - and therefore salespeople must not fall out of the role of consultant at any cost, thereby raising doubts about their sincerity.
How to put the value approach into practice
From the outset, the value-based selling process focuses on just one thing: the target person. Their goals and needs take precedence over everything else. For long stretches of the process, salespeople have to put the signature on the sales contract on the back burner. Because that is exactly what must not happen: Putting pressure on them to get said signature as quickly as possible. This not only entails the risk of abandoning the role of consultant and thus losing credibility. Anyone who hastily commits to a vague idea of the actual problem of the interested person can end up being way off the mark with their proposed solution. By ignoring cross-selling and upselling, for example, salespeople not only miss out on sales opportunities, but can also lose the entire deal.
What if the competition makes more skillful inquiries or simply takes more time for the joint journey? In the end, this investment can pay off. The more intensive cooperation will clarify the view and actual causes can be distinguished from mere symptoms. If you really get to the root of the problem instead of taking shortcuts, you will end up with a business case with more convincing key figures. In this way, even a supposedly more expensive solution can leave any competition behind in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Three factors for successful value-based selling
Consistent sales processes and a high level of price enforcement - three factors in particular make it possible to leverage this efficiency potential:
1. mindset
Before focusing on the prospect, the value-based selling approach begins with a review of one's own mindset. Salespeople must have fully internalized the value-driven approach in order to be successful. The added value for customers must supersede their own turnover as the most important target dimension. Otherwise, the old methodology will keep flashing through in direct contact with prospects and the image will become cracked from the customer's perspective. "More teaching, less selling" - this is how value-based sellers should present themselves. This definition of value-based selling should be firmly anchored in the B2B sales strategy of the respective organization.
2. process understanding:
Even if value-based selling can give the opportunity its very own drive, the process can never be squeezed into a mold. Every solution must be individual in order to offer optimum added value. This also requires a flexible process. In value-based selling, the process is based on the specific circumstances. Salespeople take this into account instead of following their own opinion and rushing to present a definitive solution.
3. individualization
Value-based selling requires intensive cooperation between sales staff and their counterparts on the prospect side. Each of these teams builds personal relationships during this process. They can be so different that any disruptive factor can jeopardize the balance. Therefore, salespeople need to look at each opportunity completely separately from the others. Trying to transfer patterns from one deal to another ignores individuality and can derail the process.
Value-based selling: focus on added value without forgetting the deal
Added value as the top priority, allowing individual approaches, no pressure: Experienced salespeople sense the danger that sales processes will come to nothing. Deals that end up being won by the competition because they took a more aggressive approach. And your own team comes away empty-handed, despite having invested a lot of energy in the opportunity. The danger is real! But only if value-based selling is not consistently applied in the process. If everything is geared towards added value, goal-oriented processes arise quite naturally. We can't find any added value in an opportunity that supports the sales process? Then we should concentrate on other prospects whose intrinsic drive we can awaken with our value.
