Expression Of Value

Bryan Neale, Brooke Green,
and Bill Caskey

Value is the relief that your prospect feels when you can find and solve a pain they have.

Excerpt from post on:
December 14th, 2007

Expression of Value

July 16th, 2008 Sales Training Tip: Talk About Yellow Flags A while ago (Feb 2005 actually) I posted on the concept of Yellow Flags--those parts of the sales process that are "cause for pause" for ...READ MORE: Sales Training Tip: Talk About Yellow Flags
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

A while ago (Feb 2005 actually) I posted on the concept of Yellow Flags–those parts of the sales process that are “cause for pause” for the salesperson.  Raise The Yellow Flag Post

A yellow flag might be your prospect saying, “We’re going to look very closely at price” or “John will have a little influence but not much so you don’t need to talk to him” or other such nonsense.

Batch The Flags

But in long selling cycles/complex sales, there might be dozens of yellow flags throughout the cycle. My suggestion would be to batch them. Here’s how it works.

After every sales call, especially if you have a team that calls on the prospect at different levels, come back and “brainstorm yellow.” Meaning, talk about all the things each of you has heard from the client that are yellow flags–those things that might prohibit the sale from moving forward.

Use The Minds of Your Team

Get into a true “mind-share” attitude with your team. You’ll be amazed at the customer data you collect on the buying process. Then, make a list of all the things that your team senses might be roadblocks and bring them up to the customer in batches. Let’s say you have 10 things that your team senses could be yellow flags. The next time you’re speaking with your prospect, say, “I have several things that I’d like to talk to you about–things that have come up when we do our weekly team debriefing.” And then tell him the issues.

Yellow flags are things your prospect has to solve for you. Remember, it’s him/her that has the problem that he wants you to solve. Therefore, it’s up to them to get you comfortable–not just up to you to get him comfortable. As we say in our advanced sales courses, you’re the one that needs to be bringing up objections–not him. He needs to be selling you on why he’s committed to solving his problem.

Tags: Account Executives, Bill Caskey, large account selling, mindset, sales training tip, selling strategy, team selling
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May 9th, 2008 The Importance of the Sales Package As sales trainers who get asked in to fix sales problems, we find that the solutions aren't always in the place you're looking. Often, our ...READ MORE: The Importance of the Sales Package
Friday, May 9th, 2008

As sales trainers who get asked in to fix sales problems, we find that the solutions aren’t always in the place you’re looking. Often, our VP of Sales clients want us to come in and teach the team how to “sell harder” and “close more.”

But sometimes, the package just isn’t right. Which has caused me to think a lot about packaging lately. I wonder if this is a skill for the 21st century salesperson. Or, maybe I should say the 21st century company.

Years ago, we used to refer to Proctor and Gamble and the like as “packaged goods companies” before they were consumer products company. That was probably a very useful description.

Mainly because they knew that on the supermarket shelves, it truly was a packaging challenge. Album covers were the same way–and CD covers. Ever bought an album partly because of the package/design?

B2B Challenge
If you’re in B2B business which most of our readers are, then you, too, are a packager. You package your message, your diagnostic and yourself. How a message is packaged can be as important as what the message is.

A new way to define it is “all that the customer sees ‘around’ the product/service.” It’s not just website. It’s not just brand/color scheme.

It’s “how you are” and “who you are.”

So when we’re training sales teams, we work as much on “the package” of questions you ask, of skills you possess, of stories you tell, and of “how you behave” in front of the prospect.

In selling high level solutions, the package is the thing. Bryan Neale and I will podcast on this topic in the future. But what do you think? How important is “packaging” in your business? Before you say “not at all” think hard.

Tags: Bill Caskey, sales packaging, sales strategies, sales training, VP of Sales
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January 22nd, 2008 When the Prospect’s Mental Budget Is Lower than the Real Cost Last week, one of my clients called and said that his price had slipped out during a conversation with the prospect, and he realized, after ...READ MORE: When the Prospect’s Mental Budget Is Lower than the Real Cost
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

Last week, one of my clients called and said that his price had slipped out during a conversation with the prospect, and he realized, after he left, that it was much higher than what the prospect thought it was going to cost to do this work.

How should he go back in and have a further conversation about it? While I gave an answer for him to use, the real issue here is “how to navigate around the prospect’s mental budget.”

We all seem to have budgetary categories that we put things in, especially those things that we are familiar with. If you’re selling a product that people are familiar with, regardless of the actual price, they will put you in to a budget category. If you’re going to be much higher than that category, you’ve got to bring that up upfront, but do it in the context of “the cost of the pain,” not the cost of the solution.

In our sales philosophy, we are oriented to solving problems. In order to know whether problems are worth solving, we have to denominate those problems in some way. That’s the cost of the pain.

If you’re not finding /discovering/leading the prospect through a diagnostic where you determine what the cost of the pain is, then your price will always be compared to “doing nothing.” That’s not a good position for you or for your prospect.

So, as you go through your sales cycle, and you become aware of the types of mental budgets your prospect has, make sure that those budgets are compared to the actual pain – which will be much higher. Then you can talk about your value/price from a position of confidence, not a position of defensiveness.

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January 4th, 2008 Peter Drucker Said it Best… My friend, Bob Bly, sent me an article that talked about the seven sales traits that customers say will make them buy (The Selling Advantage). ...READ MORE: Peter Drucker Said it Best…
Friday, January 4th, 2008

My friend, Bob Bly, sent me an article that talked about the seven sales traits that customers say will make them buy (The Selling Advantage). He had a quote from Peter Drucker from The Practice of Management that I think is worth repeating: �What a customer thinks he is buying, what he considers value, is decisive�it determines what a business is, what it produces and whether it will prosper.�

We stress (harp) on this all the time in our training. Your value is nothing unless it is �valuable� to your prospect. And it�s only valuable to your prospect if it�s:

a) solving a problem that he currently has,
b) avoiding a problem that could strike him in the future or
c) exploiting some type of dream or possibility in his life.

I believe this is even more important in business-to-business selling, because in most businesses the soul�s been sucked out of the business and all that�s left is managing, management by objectives and boring, mundane, intellectual gobbledygook.

So, if you can re-frame your value in a way that helps a buyer (purchasing agents, CFO, whomever you�re calling on) see that they have problems they didn�t know they had or see that the dreams they had for that fleeting second are actually �within their reach,� then you will be bringing enormous value. (And you will be inspired).

Consequently, that means you have to have a process/system/philosophy/method that actually supports that goal of you bringing value to the customer. It�s what we talk about in most of our posts, but I thought the Drucker quote was interesting enough to bring to your attention.

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September 18th, 2007 Do You Know What You Do? by Brooke Green Do you even know what you do? Sounds absured doesn't it? Especially when you hear it from me - someone you don't even ...READ MORE: Do You Know What You Do?
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

by Brooke Green

Do you even know what you do? Sounds absured doesn’t it? Especially when you hear it from me - someone you don’t even know. How dare I question you?

Well, here’s my experience: One of the biggest challenges that companies (and the people who work for them) have is understanding and communicating their value – and getting paid for it.

Most want to throw up features and benefits - the number of employees, number of offices, size of revenue, qualifications of people, etc. Boy, that’s interesting to a prospect– NOT!

Don’t you think people would rather hear about your company’s passion, how you help your clients solve problems, your “story”? Yes, they would.

By doing it the right way, you’re also taking the first step in differentiating yourself from others in your same business segment. If you can’t communicate your company’s value (and your value) in a way that differentiates you from your competition, what’s left?

Answer: Price.

And we know what happens when the focus of your offer becomes all about price. Let’s just put a sharp object in our eye and get it over with.

Doing This is HARD!

There are several things that you should know about creating a value statement:
1. It’s hard work.
2. It’s never really finished.
3. You will have several different value statements based on who you are talking to.

While it’s much easier to throw up facts and figures, what your company does should be all about your prospect - not about you wanting to get out as much information as possible. You’re not trying to sell them something. Your intent should be to help them understand how you work with companies to solve problems. It should evoke emotion from your prospect (and you). It needs to mean something.

You want them to say (or feel) “Hey, that’s me. Those are the EXACT problems we have.”

Tags: communicating value in sales, creating a value statement
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August 23rd, 2007 Is the China Import Problem Really a Sales Problem? [This subject is covered in depth on our podcast at http://billcaskey.podshowcreator.com/podcasts.aspx?feedid=106 It's about 15 minutes but it applies to you who compete against ANY low ...READ MORE: Is the China Import Problem Really a Sales Problem?
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

[This subject is covered in depth on our podcast at http://billcaskey.podshowcreator.com/podcasts.aspx?feedid=106 It's about 15 minutes but it applies to you who compete against ANY low price competitor - not just offshore.]

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My friends tell me I take selling way too seriously. And that I break every problem down to a sales or communication issue. Well Bill, in Reagan’s words, “There you go again…”

I used to call on WalMart and other major retailers in a previous job, so I know how powerful their order-writing pens are. When they say to their suppliers, “JUMP” the response is usually, “YES SIR, HOW HIGH WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO JUMP?”

I can see it now…
…I can imagine a US toy company going in to sell WalMart their Christmas 2006 line of toys. After the presentation, the buyer says, “John, I like your offer. But I can get these from China for 30% less. You have to drop your price.” To which John concludes that it’s all about price (it never is, even at WalMart) and gets pulled down into the commodity conversation. He eventually can’t sell his products at a premium - so he loses the business.

But as we see now, all toys are not created equally. They are not a commodity.

The problem occurred when the US toy guy couldn’t differentiate between his toys and the cheaper, lead-painted Chinese toys. My question is: Was it a selling problem?

You see, the consumer (even WalMart) does NOT just look at price. The sales organizations who don’t know how to sell any other way (except for low price) will NEVER admit that. Consequently, the admonition of “everyone buys on price” is a convenient way to prevent them from having to work on their message - or themselves. It’s a lot less effort to ’sell cheap.’

Cheap Labor - Same Issue
I admit that cheap labor is quite enticing to businesses and customers. If I’m in the market for landscaping and I get three bids, chances are the one that uses the lowest-cost labor will probably be low bid. But is that what I’m buying? Just price?

Hell, if the American consumer bought on price and price alone, they wouldn’t buy anything. Because doing nothing is ALWAYS CHEAPER than doing anything.

When will American companies understand that they offer value - that their value is tied up in things broader than price - that how they sell/market/communicate to the customer is as important - if not more so - than their price?

I’ll tell you exactly when - when they get out of their own way and start focusing on the customers - and how they can bring value to the customers - instead of how can we sell a bunch of toys? (In the world of retail there are many more important things than price - like retail profit margins, marketing campaigns for the item, store sell-through, in-store displays, etc.)

If you’re in a head-to-head combat with a low priced provider - and you get chewed up often on price - then look much deeper into your value. Get a third party assessment of the value of your solution.

Here’s What To Do
Spend time away from the office with your people - and some customers. Record every word of what they say. Have it transcribed. Study it more. And soon, you will come up with the 3-5 things that separate you from everyone else. And it won’t be price. Ask them this question: “What do you believe you give up when you decide not to do business with us?”

If they say, “Nothing” then start worrying because you are nothing but a commodity.

Because if you don’t believe your value is worth 10% - 20% - 30% - 100% more than your competition (and you should) then you won’t be able to sell that value to the customer.

And they’ll buy offshore. And babies might be poisoned.

Tags: China import problem, low price competitor, sales, sales organizations
Posted in Bill Caskey, Expression of Value | 4 Comments »
November 22nd, 2006 Your Knowledge. Your Value. I was reading an excellent book by Tim Sanders called, Love is the Killer App. In it he talks about the value that you bring ...READ MORE: Your Knowledge. Your Value.
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006

I was reading an excellent book by Tim Sanders called, Love is the Killer App. In it he talks about the value that you bring people, personally and professionally.

For so long we’ve been talking about “communicating value.” I still believe that in professional sales it is the “difference maker” between the elite sellers and the amateurs.

In “Love,” Sanders says that knowledge is value. This ties in perfectly with our belief that to be a high achieving sales professional you have to be a “go-to resource” for your prospect community. You can’t just be a hand looking for an order all the time (even though monthly and quarterly quotas dictate that behavior).

Knowledge Acquisition
So what is your plan for “knowledge acquisition?” And just why do you need to be an expert in order to have a position of authority with prospects and customers? The answer? Google.

Recently I wrote a piece called “The Googlization of Your Business,” which implies that if you‘re not looking at Google and how Google searches, then you’re missing business opportunities.

You see, Google is the ultimate selector of authority. You don’t get a top ranking in Google just by throwing up a web page. You get it by being referred by other websites and by being an “authority figure.”

If I’m looking for a commercial realtor in Miami and I Google “commercial realtor,” Google helps me filter out all of the non-authority sites/people and get to the people who are recognized as good resources. (It doesn’t mean that great realtors don’t show up on page 110.)

And because our society is becoming Googlized (a verb describing the automatic filtering out of non-essential choices) then you should look for the same thing to happen in the sales process.

You As Contributor of Knowledge
So the bottom line question is: Are you a valuable contributor of knowledge to the customer due to your authority stature and are you constantly working on your acquisition of knowledge to help keep you there? If not, shame on you, because your customers are expecting no less from you if they’re to reward you with relationships.

“But Bill, how do I do that if I think of myself as merely a sales person?” Well if you think of yourself that way, you won’t do it, because you don’t feel it’s your role to be an authority figure. The only role you see is to satisfy managements demand for “making quota.”

We’ll take up the “how” in a post some time soon.

Tags: comunicating value in sales, elite sellers, high achieving sales professional
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October 26th, 2006 Your Value Is All You Have (As sent out in our October New Rules Newsletter) Your Value Is All You Have--How Competent Are You At Expressing It? I was looking through some old ...READ MORE: Your Value Is All You Have
Thursday, October 26th, 2006

(As sent out in our October New Rules Newsletter)

Your Value Is All You Have–How Competent Are You At Expressing It?

I was looking through some old training handouts … and came across one called “How To Express Your Value.”

Although I don’t have space here to review the entire module, there was one part that I thought you’d like to hear about. It had to do with how you get hold of your true value to your clients. It seems that every sales organization has a tough time communicating their value. One exercise we do when we begin working with a company is to have each person “write out” their expression of the value they bring to clients.

We usually have as many different expressions as we have ‘people in the room.’ That’s no good. So, this exercise is designed to help you know ‘where to go to get clear about your value.’

PROSPECT TRENDS. What are the trends that your prospect faces in the running of their business (department)? Trends cause pain. And you fix pain. So it pays to know trends. These trends could be macro/industry trends or trends within their company.

PROSPECT PAINS. What kinds of pains/problems do you help people solve? Do you have a list of those? No? Shame on you. How can you be a problem solver if you don’t even have a menu of the kind of problems you fix? Start that list today.

PROSPECT POSSIBILITIES. Selling is emotional. What’s more emotional than dreams? How can you help–through your service/product–create future possibilities for your prospect? Don’t laugh so quickly. If you sell a solution, then you solve problems. And if you solve problems, you advance your client to a new future. Shouldn’t you know what that might be?

STORIES. Most sales teams overlook case studies and stories. You have a wealth of those stories inside your company. But they don’t get accessed. Make a point in the next week to talk to 10 people in your company about a project that went well, or a customer that became overjoyed at your solution. That becomes a story you can tell as you talk about your value.

PICTOGRAPHS. Those who are in our training get tired of this story, but I’ll tell it anyway (in case you forgot). I read a book once called The McKinsey Way (about McKinsey Consulting). In it, they revealed that when you first get to McKinsey, you are responsible for creating a graph/ picture/ drawing every day on something you worked on. You might say that’s absurd, but they understood something you should understand. That we are all VISUAL people. And pictures do represent thousands of words. So if you can reduce your stories, examples and value to pictures, you’ll be helping your prospect “GET” your value at a deeper level.

Hope that’s not too much for today.

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Other Resources:

Advanced Selling Podcast: Thanks to your referrals, we’re up to over 7800 world-wide podcast subscribers.

Caskey Blog: We post when we see fit (and have time). Usually the topics come from training we have just done.

Same Game New Rules–E-Video Course (Free). Sign up for our 5 part course on the book, Same Game New Rules.

Regards
Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale

Tags: communicating value, sales teams, selling
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March 14th, 2006 Customer Value Propositions… You've heard me say before that I 'hate the term value propositions.' I just got back from therapy with my advisor where I found out ...READ MORE: Customer Value Propositions…
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

You’ve heard me say before that I ‘hate the term value propositions.’ I just got back from therapy with my advisor where I found out why I despise the term….and on my desk is the latest Harvard Business Review. You guessed it–a long article on Customer Value Propositions.

You can find it here, although it will cost you a few dollars. It’s probably worth it. HBR March.

Overall, the article makes the case that every company needs constant work on its value propositionn to customers. I concur. Not nearly enough time is spent on this exercise. I see it being an annual topic of a strategic retreat, where several hours should be focused on ‘what our propostion is’ and ‘how has it improved/changed?’ Just think, if you get this right, most selling becomes a piece of cake.

I also like the claim that most value proposotions are full of marketing fluff. As I say to clients, if your value claims are nothing but that–claims–and are not customer centric focused on the customer’s pain or potential, then they will be discounted by your customer. Often it’s more about how they are expressed than it is what they are in the first place.

Where I differ from the article is that they maintain that all of the company value is tied up in the delivery (of products/services and such). I think the value has to start with the sales process itself. If the sales process you’re taking your clients through is not valuable, in and of itself, then why should a customer feel like you’ll bring value after they pay you?

Your sales process, in a B2B environment, should expose shortcomings and problems in how your prospect is doing business now. This happens through the diagnostic you do–through the questions you ask–through who you call on at your prospect company. If your sales process is more intentional and buttoned up, then you (and your customer) will discover those pains better than your competition does. And when you do that, you’ll have the competitive advantage.

Rigorous Honesty

I also think they should have paid more attention to the process you go through to determine your value’s advantage (above competition). They say it’s hard work, and they’re right. But what does that mean?

One must have the orientation of “pain” when they go through the value definition process. One way to do that is to ask two questions: What does my prospect “give up” when they don’t buy at all (when they continue the status quo? ) And, “what do they give up when they decide not to buy from me?” And when you’re answering those questions, rigorous honesty must be the mantra.

If you have a bunch of “yes men” in that meeting, you’ll never get to anything meaningful. One of our clients even had three customers in their ‘value definition’ meetings to help keep them honest. They learned a lot from them–on what was valuable–and what was marketing smoke.

In our flagship product, Selling From Strength, I devote an entire section to ‘fleshing out your value’ so that you are left with words that describe it. A handy tool when you are in a meeting and your prospect says, “so, John, why are you different?”

Tags: sales process, Selling from Strength, value propositions
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January 25th, 2006 The Master Value Equation Forget whether or not you know your product--or know your customer. The question is "do you know your value?" And most, I find, do not. The ...READ MORE: The Master Value Equation
Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

Forget whether or not you know your product–or know your customer. The question is “do you know your value?” And most, I find, do not.

The other day, I was training a group of stockbrokers who call on high end investors (+$1,000,000 in assets). Even though they all were earning high sums of money, none of them could accurately express the value they brought to their clients.

Here is the board picture I drew that illustrates the point.

The UV stands for do you “understand” your value? The CV means, how competent are you at “communicating value?” The PV means, if you do those things well, you’ll get paid for it.

When I say “understand” I mean do you know what problems your value solves? Or what opportunity your value helps the customer exploit. Thought you’d like to see the picture.

Tags: communicating value, know your value, understand value, value
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