Value Selling : A Business Critical Mindset and Skill

Long gone are the days when a sales professional knew more than the customer – and could use that knowledge to close a strategic sale. Nowadays the roles are often reversed – and clients know more about the competitive context than the sales person knows him/herself. Just a search online and amongst social media groups can provide significant information and feedback.

It is surprising in this context how often we have clients telling us that their sales teams rely on pricing to close customer deals. Or that they cannot manage a situation where a client is demanding a price discount. And of course there is always a supplier somewhere willing to offer a very low price.

This program, at its core, prepares sales professionals with the mindset and tools to consider the true and broadest value of what they can offer the client – be it great product delivery, quality reassurance, customer service – which goes beyond pricing. It also trains sales personnel to listen carefully to clients and understand what they truly want and need – before jumping in with a solution.

And in practice we have found that clients particularly appreciate a consulting and facilitation approach to developing a strategic value proposition for their company, brands, products, services. This is all the more powerful when it involves input and buy-in from data collection, client surveys, head and regional office, senior management, marketing and product development. And it is so critical to get the sales interface story right that we are often requested to work with the sales teams in client meeting preparation and delivery implementation.