What is value selling?
Value selling is a way of running a deal where every part of the conversation ties back to a business result the buyer wants. You learn what the problem costs them before you talk about your product, and the numbers come from the buyer: hours, days late, people, missed deadlines or money, in the units they already track.
It works inside any discovery method. In MEDDPICC the cost lives in Metrics, and in SPICED it lives in Impact. Value selling is the habit of finding that number early and carrying it through the rest of the deal.
Our platform cleans and loads plant data for you automatically.A feature. The buyer has to work out what it's worth to them, and most won't do that math for you.
You mentioned 300 plants send data every month. What does it cost your team when one of them is late?It starts from their own fact and asks them to put a cost on it.
Value selling techniques, step by step
Four things to learn, in this order, then one step where you tie what you sell to what you learned. Every question here is one open question about the buyer's own situation, so you can ask it as written.
1. Find the problem
Learn what's going wrong in the buyer's words before you say anything about your product. You have it when you could tell the story of the last time it went wrong.
- What's taking your team longer than it should right now?
- Where does the work get stuck on its way to the people who need it?
- What made this worth looking at this quarter?
2. Put a cost on it
Ask what the problem costs, in units the buyer already tracks. Their number, never yours. If they don't have one, ask what it does to the rest of their work and come back to the size on the next call. You have it when the buyer has said the cost out loud.
- How much of the team's week goes into working around it?
- What did it cost you the last time it went wrong?
- What happens to the team's plans if nothing changes this year?
3. Name the result they want
The outcome the business is after, and the number that would show it worked. Ask what it would change for your contact too. People push hardest for a fix that helps them. You have it when you can say the result back in the words their leadership would use.
- If this were fixed, what would be different six months from now?
- Which number would tell your leadership this worked?
- What would it change about your own week?
4. Find who owns the number
Someone in leadership is measured on the result you just found. The cost and the result have to reach that person, in the buyer's numbers, before anyone weighs what you charge. You have it when you know who is measured on it and what they've said about it.
- Who on the leadership team is measured on this?
- How does this show up in the numbers your leadership reviews?
- What has your leadership said about it so far?
5. Tie what you sell to their numbers
Now you talk about your product. Say their result and their cost back in their words, show the one or two parts of what you sell that move that number, and ask them to check it. If they can't see the link, they'll tell you, and you've learned it before the proposal.
- What would you need to see to believe this fixes it?
- How would you explain this to the person measured on it?
- What would make this worth doing this quarter?
What value selling sounds like on a live call
A payroll lead at a company with many plants, a few minutes into a first call. Each question builds on the last thing the buyer said, and the product only comes up at the end.
Some of the plants send their files in the wrong format. Twice this year we missed the payroll window, and plant managers got paid late.
You mentioned missing the payroll window twice this year. What did your team have to absorb afterward?Step 2. It asks what the problem cost, using their fact.
An off-cycle run both times. My team gave up a weekend each time, and HR took calls from every plant.
You mentioned HR took calls from every plant. Who else heard about it?Step 4. It finds who is measured on the result.
Our CFO got involved. She told me it can't happen a third time.
So your CFO wants to be sure there's no third time, and each miss so far has cost an off-cycle run and a weekend. Here's how we'd check the plant files before they reach payroll.Step 5. Every fact in it came from the buyer, and it shows one part of the product, the part that moves their number.
The rep never put a number on the problem. The buyer did, and the result came from the person who owns it: the CFO wants no third miss. Both are on the table before anyone talks about the contract.
Veracity helps with the asking. While the buyer is still answering, one open question appears on your screen, built on the impact, the cause or what happens next, using only facts the buyer said. As they keep talking, it upgrades in place with their own words, starting with "You mentioned".
Where value selling goes wrong
- Bringing your own numbers. A savings figure from your deck is about someone else's company, and a cost you add up for them is your estimate. The buyer believes the number they said themselves.
- Stopping at the problem. "Reporting is slow" has no cost attached yet. Ask what it does to the rest of the team's work.
- Selling to someone who isn't measured on it. Your contact can love the fix while the person who owns the number never hears about it. Ask who is measured on the result.
- Showing every feature. Ten features make the one that matters harder to see. Show the parts that move the number the buyer gave you.
- Dropping the numbers after the call. Put the buyer's cost and result, in their words, in your recap and your proposal, so they reach the people who weren't on the call.