Selling Value – The Value Proposition

Selling Value – The Value Proposition

We often hear about and discuss selling value in sales. Generally known as the Value Proposition for a product or solution.

There is our Value Proposition as the person or company selling and then there is the customers perceived value of what they are getting.

The customers viewpoint and buying criteria is obviously more important and should be identified first prior to launching an extended pitch that is uncertain to resonate without a discovery discussion.

The Discovery discussion identifies customer pain points that need to align with your Value Proposition to move forward and eventually earn a purchase.

Once a short 10 second elevator pitch is used to gain interest and stating the reason for the call the dialogue around your Value and the Discovery around the customers perceived Value can begin to determine the direction in the discussion.

As Steve Jobs stated “It’s not the customers job to know what they want. It’s our job to show them what they want”

 

Tell and show the customer the VALUE of your product or solution and why they need it. You are the expert. Make Recommendations. Get Creative. Be confident!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA

 

Jerry Lang

Steve Jobs – Start With The Customer Experience

Steve Jobs

“And one of the things I’ve always found is that you’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to try to sell it.”

This Thought Leading Visionary style of working backwards from the customer experience may have been innovative at the time …

But, as history proved, it was right.

Jerry Lang

Money – Booking The Deal Now Scripts

Money – Booking The Deal Now Scripts

Team,

Please use the following process to ignite 🔥 a sense of urgency to book the deal now. (Timeline: Could be Today, this Friday, 2nd Friday of the month or last Friday of the month, the sooner, the better.)

The Reason: Many times, I have sent an email to a reseller asking – “Have you heard from the customer regarding the last quote sent?” Common Reseller Response: “I haven’t heard anything.”

Try these proven email strategies to help seal the deal.

Email: 

To customer: Sally

CC: Other customer team members and the Reseller

Subject: Following up to see if you received the PRODUCT quote?

Hi Sally,

Hope you are well!

I’m following up to see if you received the quote for the PRODUCT?

Thanks,

(Depending on how the customer responds, you can take direction for the next step in the dialogue. If they received the quote, you can ask if there are any questions, if they would like to schedule a call to discuss and if you can get the PO by X. If they did not receive the quote, that is an issue with the reseller. The email should light a fire and the reseller should get the quote out. If not, ask the customer if you can provide another reseller. Work through the process to ensure the customer has what they need in order to book the deal as quickly as possible. Get the deal off the street.)

If the deal is required to go out to bid: Follow similar email language as above. (Do this 1-2 days prior to the bid closing to ensure the bid does not get canceled due to a lack of qualified bids) 

Email:

To customer: Sally

CC: Other customer team members

Subject: Following up to see if you received enough bids for the PRODUCT?

Hi Sally,

Hope you are well!

I’m following up to see if you received enough bids for the PRODUCT bid?

Thanks, 

(Depending on how the customer responds, you can take direction for the next step in the dialogue. If the customer did not get enough bids, ask how many they received and how many they need. Maybe you can send a list price direct quote to fulfill the requirement. You may have to engage with multiple resellers to ensure the bid gets enough quotes to be executed on. This is your money to lose, act quickly.)

Act and ASK with a sense of urgency, book the deal now!

Jerry Lang

Software Sales Funnel

Software Sales Funnel

Loyal customers are more valuable than 100 leads and easier to sell to than acquiring new customers.

 

Don’t build your Sales funnel from the top down. Build it from the bottom up, like you’re building a Pyramid, and here’s why…

Loyal customers at the bottom of the funnel (Already Purchased) are closer and more willing to make a new purchase.

If you start at the top with awareness content, trying to create demand and generate net new customers but don’t have enough middle and bottom of funnel suspects in place, you can generate a ton of potential prospects, but you’ll have a hard time converting them to opportunities if you don’t have enough perceived value to help them consider you as an option. (This equals a longer sales cycle and a lower percentage of winning)

Examples of TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content:

TOFU (Top of Funnel):

– Thought leadership
– Whitepapers
– Tech Briefs
– eBooks
– Social Posts

– Blog Posts 

– Manuals

– Events

– Online Demos

– Surveys

MOFU (Middle of Funnel): There is some overlap with both TOFU and BOFU

– Solution/Product/Service pages
– Webex/Teams/Webinars
– Use Case studies
– Company overviews/ capability docs

BOFU (Bottom of Funnel):

– Call to Action to book specific demo, Proof of Concept or Consultation
– Customer Testimonials
– Use cases/Case studies
– Comprehensive comparisons
– Details to differentiate from competitors, stand out as evidently the best choice

Once the lead is considered an opportunity, then it goes into the pipeline. However, if you create opportunities too soon without performing a thorough Discovery Call and Hyper-Qualifying them your pipeline conversion report looks like dung.

Focus efforts on Account Maintenance, creating net new opportunities with your most loyal customers.

Jerry Lang

Story of two Sales Reps: Alpha and Bravo

Story of two Sales Reps: Alpha and Bravo

Alpha focuses on helping the customer see the value of the product or solution and discounts only a small standard amount on the most expensive options or offers no discount at all.

Alpha sees a long-term relationship.

Alpha’s customer standardizes on the higher more expensive option.

Bravo focuses on discounting the product or solution trying to get the customer to purchase on price alone and discounts heavily on the least expensive options.

Bravo only sees a one-time sale or short-term relationship.

Bravo’s customer standardizes on the lower cost option.

Let us do some math:

The cost for the product from Alpha is: $864 or 134% more than the product that Bravo leads with. Alpha sells value and collaborates with the customer to understand pain points and helps the customer solve business challenges while becoming a Trusted Advisor.

The cost for the product from Bravo is: $369 or 134% less than the product that Alpha leads with. Now, Bravo sells strictly on price and heavily discounts the product they lead with by 40%. Bravo is 174% lower than Alpha’s price to the customer. Bravo does not understand the value proposition or selling value and is afraid of losing a sale if they position a higher priced product.

This scenario plays out the entire sales year.

At the end of the year, the results look like this.

Alpha exceeded their quota of $1,800,000 by selling 2,100 licenses and made President’s Club and was rewarded.

Alpha won a nice trip to a tropical island and received recognition, accolades, and prizes.

Bravo, on the other hand did not hit their quota. Bravo also sold 2,100 licenses but for only $469,940.

In some organizations, Bravo’s performance was deemed unacceptable and they were put on a 90-day performance period with strict guidelines.

Best case, Bravo improved performance.

But, many times, someone in Bravo’s position doesn’t know how to sell value or doesn’t want to and they don’t ask for help.

Bravo is replaced by someone who gets it and sells value.

The moral of the story is to ask yourself how you want to sell. Do you want to sell on a value proposition or on price?

Do you want to sell like Bravo or like Alpha? What behaviors will you utilize, and do you want to earn that trip to a Tropical Island?

Jerry Lang

Sales Play – Mission Critical

Sales Play – Mission Critical

Process that must function continuously for an organization to be successful.

Market – Target Top 10 largest customers and ask which databases are essential to the operation of the organization. What platform are they? Who manages them? What happens if they go down?

What are their Pain Points? What are their Preferences and why? Who in the account can be your champion or influencer? What are the critical business functions of this Database?

Trigger – Identify by “asking” – what would it take to get you to switch to our solution?

What is their trigger to switch?

Will they spend time on a demo, proof of concept or evaluate a trial? Are they open to product bundles?

Value Prop – Discuss, describe, present how Mission Critical Software can ease customer Pain Points and solve Business Issues. Explain the innovation differentiation behind your product as a preferred vendor.

Tell the story of your products leadership in the Market and how it helps customers just like them.

Explain – Why the customer should buy the Software. Present proof that it is a Category King?

Extrapolate on what they gain and what they lose by changing or staying business as usual.

Use a customer use case as an example to tell a story.

Sales Methodology – Map your sales cycle to customer buying cycle understanding “What it takes to Win” Utilize – 5 W’s – Who, What, Where, Why, When type questions.

Understand – MANIACT – Money, Authority, Need, Impending Event, Application, Competition, Timeframe.

SWOTT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, Trends.

Objection Handling – HEPICC – Hear the customer out, Empathize, Probe, Isolate objections, Clarify, Close.

Repeat for the next 10 customers.

Jerry Lang

Sales Play – Velocity

Sales Play – Velocity

Focus on upselling to a higher edition or version.

Market – Target Top 10 largest customers and ask how many people are using older editions or versions.

Who are they? What are their Pain Points? What are their Preferences and why?

Who in the account can be your champion or influencer?

What are the critical business issues these users are trying to solve?

Trigger – Identify by “asking” – what would it take to get you to switch to a higher edition or version?

What is their trigger to switch?

Will they spend time on a demo, proof of concept or evaluate a trial? Are they open to product bundles?

Value Prop – Discuss, describe, present how higher edition/version can ease customer Pain Points and solve Business Issues. Explain the innovation differentiation behind your product as a preferred vendor.

Tell the story of your products leadership in the Market and how it helps customers just like them.

Explain – Why the customer should buy the higher edition/version. Is it a Category King?

Extrapolate on what they gain and what they lose by staying with a lower edition/version.

Use a customer use case as an example to tell a story.

Sales Methodology – Map your sales cycle to customer buying cycle understanding “What it takes to Win” Utilize – 5 W’s – Who, What, Where, Why, When type questions.

Understand – MANIACT – Money, Authority, Need, Impending Event, Application, Competition, Timeframe.

SWOTT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, Trends.

Objection Handling – HEPICC – Hear the customer out, Empathize, Probe, Isolate objections, Clarify, Close.

Repeat for the next 10 customers.

Jerry Lang

Sacramento California

Sacramento Travel

Hotels
When staying in or near Sacramento for business I like to stay at the Marriott Rancho Cordova
or the Embassy Suites Hilton Sacramento Riverfront Promenade by the American River.


For business near Rancho Cordova, I stay at the Marriott.
11211 Point E Dr, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742 – Phone: (916) 638-1100


The Marriott has a nice restaurant inside called Formaggio serving American cuisine and there
is a Starbucks next to it. Starbucks closes at 4pm.
There is a small fitness center to get in a work out with several ellipticals, treadmills and cycle
machines. Also, there is a rack of dumbells and a resistance machine.
There are free waters, water station and towels.
There is a nice outdoor heated pool and hot tub.
The hotel has a free parking lot.
The rooms are nice, clean and comfortable with refrigerator and coffee maker.


Marriott website:
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sacmc-sacramento-marriott-rancho-
cordova/?scid=bb1a189a-fec3-4d19-a255-54ba596febe2

The Embassy Suites is located near downtown and I stay there when having business in the city.
100 Capital Mall, Sacramento, California 95814 – Phone: (916) 326-5000


There is a restaurant called Tower Bridge Bistro and a separate eating area for less expensive
food options like pizza, sandwiches and snacks. There is a free limited breakfast and a free
limited happy hour with snacks and complimentary drinks in the evening for hotel guests.
There is an indoor pool and fitness center.
Parking is by valet and may take over 10 minutes to get your car so leave plenty of time to plan
for this. Even calling down ahead of time does not shorten the time it takes to get your vehicle.
Just plan for it.
There is coffee outside by the steps for those getting their car from valet.

The suites are nice, clean and comfortable with refrigerator, microwave, sofa bed and coffee
maker.
This hotel is located in the city and around the area are some sketchy people. The last time I
stayed there, around 5:30am it was dark and I was outside on the hotel steps waiting for my car
to be brought around to head to the airport and a guy on a bicycle with tattoos on his face,
neck and hands road up to me asking for a cigarette.
Hilton Embassy Suites website:
https://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/california/embassy-suites-by-hilton-sacramento-
riverfront-promenade-SACESES/index.html

Car Rental
I usually use National for their walk up to any car and drive away program. It’s super
convenient and doesn’t take a lot of time.
https://www.nationalcar.com/en/home.html
Airlines
Depending on where I am going, I usually use American Airlines or Southwest Airlines.
https://www.aa.com/homePage.do
https://www.southwest.com/
Restaurants
In California and Sacramento area, it’s hard to beat the taste or cost of In N Out Burger. Two
cheese burgers and a fry are less than $5.
Weather
I joke that the weather person has the best job in California. In May through September that is
mostly true. They could say mostly sunny, put it on a video loop and check in at six months…
That is not always the case during wild fire season around the end of October timeframe. I
recently traveled to Sacramento for a few days and there were several fires raging throughout
the area and the state. The day before flying into Sacramento there was a fire near the airport
and the 5 freeway and 80 were closed off, cars were abandoned and they melted to the
ground. The center divide between the lanes burned, grass fires started up and quickly spread.
It really is a scary and dangerous situation. I called my hotel, this time the Marriott in Rancho
Cordova and was told that everything was fine in the area. An hour later, the news showed fires
in the nearby area. It’s important to check the current weather situation when traveling
anywhere.