POSITIONING YOUR VALUE STORY
In complex B2B sales environments - particularly ones that involve multiple stakeholders and lengthy and often complicated buying journeys - it's unwise for your sales people to rush to propose their solution the moment a prospective customer acknowledges or implies that they may have a problem that you might be able to solve.
This tendency towards "premature elaboration" has been the ruin of many apparently promising sales opportunities. If it is a significant purchase, and if your customer takes their decision-making seriously, they are going to take their time. Rather than racing ahead of their customer's buying journey, your sales people would be far better advised (and far more effective) if they first established your value story.
But before your sales people can position the distinctive value of implementing your solution, they first need to position the value of addressing their customer's issues.
It's vital that your sales people position the full cost of their customer's problem before they promote the value of your approach. Kahneman's research into buying behaviour concluded that decision-makers were 2-3 times more likely to take action because of the threat of loss as opposed to the opportunity for gain. Other studies have concluded that a decision to do nothing and stick with the status quo is the most common outcome for complex B2B buying journeys.
It should be obvious that before your sales people attempt to persuade their prospective customers of the distinctive value of your solution, they first need to build a compelling case for change. And that requires a different sort of conversation from the simple need > solution track that might sometimes work in simple transactional sales. It requires a progressive, intentional and thoughtful approach - one that spans the following phases:
CHANGES
First, your sales people need to become familiar with the most important industry and market changes that are affecting their target customers. They need to offer fresh perspectives on these trends that will be both interesting to their customers and lead them towards the conclusion that they need your company's help - but at this stage it is vital that your sales people resist the "itch to pitch" and are very careful not to rush into presenting their solution prematurely, before the customer has even acknowledged they have a problem.
PROBLEMS
Then, you need to identify the key problems that these changes are likely to be creating for your customers. These are likely to include threats that if ignored will have a negative impact on their business performance, as well as opportunities that - if implemented - will have a significant positive impact on their business. Once again, your sales people need to focus our attention on threats and opportunities that - if recognised - you have proven answers to, but they need to continue to lead towards rather than with your solution.
IMPLICATIONS
Even if your prospective customer acknowledges these problems, if they feel that there are few risks involved in simply sticking with the status quo, they are unlikely to see the need for change. And even if they do recognise some important implications, they may feel that they are insufficient to justify action. Your sales people need to progressively amplify the perceived pain of staying as they are - by introducing previously unrecognised implications and consequences and in doing so make a compelling case for change.
NEEDS
Your customer will always have options, and these will not necessarily be restricted to merely other vendors or suppliers that might at face value look similar to you. They will often include alternative approaches to achieving the goals your customer has established. They may believe that developing an "in house" solution is a credible option - or choose a completely different path. Your sales people need to identify what their customers regard as credible options, and help them to weigh up the pros and cons of each approach.
DIFFERENTIATORS
You've now laid the foundation for positioning your key differentiators as "must have" minimum requirements for addressing your customer's problems. And because your differentiators can now be positioned within a clear business context, your sales people's recommendations will have far more power and credibility than if they had jumped the gun and attempted to propose your solution the moment that your prospective customer acknowledged a potential need.
OUTCOMES
And because your unique differentiators now have a clear business context, you can associate them with a clear business value. Because your sales people have helped their customers to acknowledge the significant consequences of sticking with the status quo, they can establish a powerful contrast with the significant business benefits of adopting your approach and implementing your solution. And because they have highlighted the full potential value of the project, they can help their champion to justify its approval.
IN CONCLUSION
We're not suggesting that every sales interaction needs to be perfectly linear in following these phases, or that all of these steps can or should be completed within a single conversation. But this progressive framework encourages and equips your sales people to invest their time in truly understanding the nature of their customer's challenges - and allows them to establish the maximum contrast between their customer's current situation and what they could aspire to if they decided to adopt your approach.
EXPERTS IN APPLYING VALUE-BASED SELLING TO COMPLEX B2B SALES
Our value selling system® has the potential to empower every member of your sales organisation - from your most recent recruit to your most experienced veteran - to make the connection between the critical business issues of their customers and the strategic business value of your solution...
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