What is value selling?
Value selling is a sales technique that relies on conveying the value of the product or service to the prospect so effectively that it convinces them to invest in it. Value selling is one of the most successful sales tactics and is widely adopted by both, direct and indirect sales channels.
How is value selling different from other sales techniques?
Value selling is different from other sales techniques in the sense that it focuses entirely on the buyer. The value selling technique identifies a gap or need that he buyer is experiencing and communicates to them clearly how the gap can be filled effectively with the product or service that is being sold. Value selling is all about the buyer and not the seller or the product. Instead of focusing on the features of the product or service, value selling dwells on the benefits it offers the buyers.
Aligning sales and marketing with the buyer’s journey
One of the key features of value selling is that it aligns sales and marketing efforts with the buyer’s journey. Since value selling focuses on the buyer and the value the product or service adds to them, all sales communication has to be aligned with the buyer’s position in the sales cycle at any given point of time. In order to effectively engage in value selling, salespeople and partners have to have a clear view of their prospects and consequently personalize their sales and marketing communication to appeal to them. They need an in-depth understanding of the prospects and their interaction with the business and then analyze the data and use that information intelligently to allow a high level of personalized marketing and sales, which is the core of value-based selling.
Sales and Partner enablement tools that effectively support value selling
Let’s take a look at the various sales and partner enablement tools that effectively support value selling.
Content recommendation tools
Content recommendation tools assist salespeople and channel partners engage in value selling effectively by suggesting the asset that’s most appropriate/effective for use in a particular situation (sales cycle position) or for a particular prospect.
New content alerts
This refers to tools that alert partner users via email or system notifications when a new asset is available for their use
Global content search, tagging and filters
Having the right content alone is not enough, when it comes to value selling. It is essential that the sales and marketing assets are easy to access, use and always up-to-date. A jumbled up asset dump doesn’t help in value selling. What helps is a systematic collection of assets from which the partners can quickly find what they need, when they need.
Content syndication
Personalized sales and marketing communication is one of the core elements of value selling. Content syndication is a great way to deliver sales and marketing content created at the corporate level, co-branded & personalized for the local audience. Content syndication tools allow you to personalize all content types (web pages, micro-sites, blogs, landing pages) for partners.
Sales playbooks
To engage in effective value selling, salespeople and channel partners need plays for different sales scenarios and for prospects who are in different stages of the sales cycle. Sales playbooks address this requirement perfectly by mapping sales and marketing assets to different stages of the buyer’s journey.
Lead nurturing
Value selling takes time. You need to educate your buyers of the value you bring to the table. In order to influence buying decisions in your favor, you need to be in constant touch with your leads. However, it becomes difficult to strike a balance between hot leads and leads that are not very far ahead in the sales cycle. And with limited time on their hands, channel partners and salespeople tend to focus on leads that are closer to buying–which means a lot of leads that may close later are dropped inadvertently. You can change that with lead nurturing tools. Lead nurturing campaigns help keep salespeople and channel partners in touch with their leads till they become warm enough for actual interaction with them.
Value selling may be a challenging approach to sales, but it is one that definitely works. While it may take time to build the perception of value in the minds of the prospects, sales and partner enablement tools can make this process easier and more effective.
