How can you help a prospect understand the value of your software?

Uncovering pain points is key and marks the beginning of meaningful engagement. After all, there's got to be a reason or purpose for the engagement. Identifying pain points may not happen in just one meeting, and it's not limited to speaking directly with clients. We can also gather insights from annual reports or industry challenges to validate and kickstart conversations.

I reckon we should also understand the client’s future goals and management aspirations. When we approach a client with a solution that addresses their pain points, we are addressing their problems of today. A solution of course has to be fit for purpose (ie addressing current pain points) but it also has to be fit for future purpose. That’s why we also need to take the client’s future goals and management aspirations into consideration when crafting the software solution strategy.

Connecting the dots between pain points and the solutions we offer is indeed the essence of the sales engineer role and forms the foundation of value-driven engagements. To enhance effectiveness, quantifying the pain allows us to quantify the value our solution brings, thereby strengthening the overall value proposition and boosting confidence in the solution.

I appreciate Steven's explanation. It's crucial to specify the pains clearly. Here's a simple formula: Detail X Features that address the Y Pain Points, providing Z tangible benefits. This approach facilitates easy calculation of ROI.

Stories or case studies provide the confidence needed, showing that the solution has been successfully implemented elsewhere. Many businesses are hesitant to venture into the unknown. Therefore, it's crucial that these stories clearly depict the challenges, quantify them, show how the solutions address these challenges, and present the results with supporting numbers. This solidifies the credibility of the solution and instills confidence in potential clients.

Telling stories is indeed a good way to demonstrate the capability of the software solution. A great way to tell stories with a software is via a series of software solution demos that address some of the client’s most critical pain points and future goals. A good demo does worth a thousand sales pitches!

Value without numbers is only half the story. Quantifying challenges, targets, or results adds credibility and confidence to the solution. Numbers provide substance and clarity, making the value proposition more compelling and tangible for clients.

Quantifying values is a great way to gain trust and buy-in but it’s very tricky to deliver as we may not have the full picture of the financials due to lack of data or no access to sensitive client data during the sales process. We can overcome this issue by showcasing value creation in another successful engagement, preferably with an anonymous client in a similar or close enough industry. The prospective client can often visualize or infer similar values to be realized should similar solutions be implemented.

A very good strategy to sell software to a new customer is to use the trial period or a free baseline offer, with value to the customer. By putting hands-on the customer may find the best usage and approach to take even more value.

An experience sharing from a client who had the solution successfully implemented elsewhere would be a good addition to the trust and credential building rally. A word or quote from another respectable client is certain to carry a lot of weight.