The Value-Driven Sales Playbook

Your prospects are bombarded with messages that pressure them to buy something, every day. Let’s be honest, nobody wants to feel like they are being forced to do something. Nevertheless, most salespeople continue to use pushy tactics.

Of course, you’re a salesperson; your ultimate goal is to sell. But the key to success in sales is to stand out from the competition. If you provide greater value than your competition, you’ll create long-term, reliable relationships with your customers.

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get”. - Warren Buffet

What is Value-Based Selling?

Value-based selling is a technique we can use when your leads question the price of your product, or you feel your sales cycle is too long. By using this strategy, you divert attention from price towards the lead’s critical business issues for both their and your benefit.

This approach highlights the measurable business values your product or service brings to a customer. It is about finding a match between your client’s needs and your product’s benefits. Value-based selling means putting the customer’s needs above your own revenue, helping them become more interested in your product. The core principle of this technique is to think of your prospect’s problems and desires.

Tips to get started with Value-Based Selling

1. Know your prospects

You can’t bring value without knowing your prospects. So many businesses and their salespeople spend countless hours trying to sell to prospects, yet few are willing to devote the time and effort trying to understand who these people are.

Having a deeper knowledge of who your prospects are drives better sales results. By being familiar with your prospects, you’re able to identify their pain points and explain how your solution moves them from “Point A” to “Point B” with minimal risk.

Prospective customers probably know why you’re contacting them. So, it’s important to find out everything you can before you make that contact. When researching a prospect, aim to understand their industry (particularly in B2B sales), background, and current pain points. To prepare yourself for a conversation with a prospect, consider looking for:

• Company website and social media pages. This tells you more about a prospect’s engagement, their company news, and product updates.
• Current role, career history and experience. With this information, you know how they could benefit from you.
• Common connection you have. If so, a common contact can contribute to added trust between you and your lead.

2. Ask Questions

Successful salespeople ask specific questions to get to the root of what prospects actually want. By encouraging your prospects to tell you more about what they need, you reap two major benefits. Firstly, it increases a prospect’s confidence in how much you understand their situation. Secondly, you discover information that helps you emphasize just how valuable your offer is in relation to what they’re doing. This helps in framing the price of your offer versus the value it will provide.

If you discover how much your offer can benefit a customer, you’ll be able to explain that value in terms they’ll understand and appreciate. Understanding the value you can provide your customers is the golden path to a profitable sales plan.

Try to speak to your prospects as a friend. A fantastic way to personalize your approach is to make your clients and leads feel like they’re receiving advice from a trusted advisor. To do this, aim not to ask questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no". Instead, all your questions should be for the sake of getting to know them.

Value-based selling involves not only the ability to talk but also the ability to listen. Your prospects and clients want to be heard; asking good questions is the best way to show that you have a genuine interest in helping. This way, you identify what your offer is worth to a prospect and understand whether a purchase is in their best interest.

3. Give them a reason to buy

You can increase both the price and the chances of a transaction as well as the price the buyer will be willing to pay by understanding and reinforcing the Reason Why your product is valuable to a customer.

In the 1970s, a psychologist at Harvard University

conducted experiments about compliance, trying to discover what makes people agree to a request. In short, Langer’s students asked people to cut in a line for a photocopier with three different requests. A straightforward request was honored 60% of the time, but Langer found that adding a reason for the request increased the compliance rate to 95%.

This proves that when giving people a reason why, they become more receptive to any request. Humans are predisposed to look for a cause by their nature.

4. Be a doctor to a client, not a salesperson

When we think of a salesperson we think of a shiny suit and a pushy manner. But, the truth is that this stereotype was formed because of poor techniques by salespeople of the past times. As you embark on a value-based selling adventure, you need to create meaningful contact with customers. When you take a healing approach, you become a go-to destination to free them of their problems.

Engage your clients by making them consider their own pain points. Find out what problems you are actually trying to solve. For your conversation to resonate with a user, it needs to be less about purchasing your product and bragging about your company; instead, about meeting their specific needs. Don’t sell your product’s features, but its value to yield benefits.

Find out what is lacking from their everyday routine. The key is to really listen to their responses and provide a solution that matches their needs. Ask what their top three challenges are, instead of simply running through a recycled sales pitch.

After you understand that a prospect is interested in your service, offer them a demo. Walk them through possible solutions they could take to solve challenges in an informative, engaging way. Therefore, you offer a helping hand and assist them through any pain they feel. Once trust is established and the value is proved, your prospect is ready to make a purchase.

5. Ensure value during every interaction

Last but not least, every interaction must be meaningful. Make sure you add value each time you engage with a prospect to continue building trust and create a long-term, positive experience. Make them feel heard and supported each time they interact with you.

Share helpful articles or content that is relevant to their business when you aren’t actively engaged in a sales conversation. When your prospect hesitates in the process, offer them some alternatives.

Furthermore, you could provide your customers’ feedback, so a prospect can understand your service from a first-hand perspective.

Try to avoid directly telling a prospect what to do. Instead, keep giving them fresh ideas and strategies that help them to improve their own competitive positioning.

6. Stay human during your sales process

Be genuine and sincere in every interaction with every prospect. Show them that you are thoughtful, that you take an interest in them, and are not there to waste their time.

Remember, people don’t buy based on logic; people buy based on how a product or service makes them feel.

Customers focus on the benefits they feel a product gives them. These benefits are the value that customer sees in the product.

Everyone likes belonging, being accepted, and feeling validated. These principles are essential in building strong, trusting relationships with your customers. Have a look at - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs .

To make your sales plan more productive, a value-based selling strategy is worth a try. Support your customers in solving their problems and convince them your product can help them realise their goals. It takes time and effort to create meaningful connections and mutual understanding with clients. But, it’s part of the job when trying to become a successful salesperson or an entrepreneur.

Try these techniques and watch yourself and your business grow, it’ll be worth it in the end!

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