Don’t sell your products, sell what your products do

Customers buy your products for a reason—namely, the impact your products have on their business results. If they could get the same results without buying your solution, believe me, they would. They would gladly refocus their time and money on running their business.  

The best sellers get this. They work closely with key customers to identify improvement opportunities, select solutions that fit the customer need, and then they close the loop to demonstrate that the customer received the promised value. That closed value loop keeps the customer coming back, building you into their future business improvement plans.

Building this value loop takes a whole organization. Savvy sellers leverage their internal teams to build this value loop:

• Know what you do uniquely well. Understand your core competencies, and build your brand and value positions around your strengths.
• Target customers whose business can benefit from your differentiators. Do your homework to understand the customer’s business, competitive landscape and potential opportunities. Select the right product for the right customer.
• Quantify value in customer terms. Create simple value tools, using the customer’s own data, to prove your value to all the key players in the customer organization. Use their words and KPIs to demonstrate that you truly understand their business. Then, communicate this value in face-to-face conversations.
• Prove that you kept your promise. This is particularly important if an internal champion advocated for your solution. Make them an internal hero by proving that you delivered the value you promised in the bid—and be sure to communicate this in business reviews with the customer. It’s not just about the numbers. Trust is an essential component to making value partnerships credible
• Stay vigilant. Being the incumbent is not a right, it's a privilege. Competitive situations and stakeholders change. Stay ahead of the curve to position yourself for the next opportunity

Following these steps creates customers that are willing to pay a fair price for the value you've promised and delivered—and converts selling value to building the trust that creates customers that keep coming back because they trust in your partnership. The result is profitable growth for your customer and your own business. 

We'd love to send your our whitepaper on Getting to Value in B2B Sales that digs deep into the imperative for value within your organization and how to implement the Case ROI method.