7 Key Principles of Value-Based Selling — What Experts Have to Say

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Whether you like it or not, every great business relies on selling. This is something I've learned firsthand as I've started my own freelance business and have seen it in the numerous tech companies I've worked with in my career.

When you have a product, your ultimate goal is convincing people that your product has value. Of course there is the sleazy, salesy way - but no one likes that. The better course? Value-based selling.

Put simply, value-based selling is an approach to sales that prioritizes the value of your product or service. It relies on putting the customer first, listening to their pain points, and tailoring a solution that will genuinely help them.

It's a win-win solution where you'll close the deal and gain a new customer while you can also be confident that you're helping them solve a problem they're facing. I wanted to learn more about how you can approach value-based selling from a tactical perspective, so I spoke to numerous founders and sales experts.

Keep reading, and I'll explain more about value-based selling methodologies, some best practices, and more.

Table of Contents

• What Is Value-Based Selling?
• A Value-Based Selling Framework
• Why Value-Based Selling Matters
• Best Practices for Value-Based Selling
• Value-Based Selling Methodologies
• Value-Based Selling Examples

In essence, value-based selling is about shifting our focus from "What can I sell?" to "How can I help?" This subtle yet powerful change in mindset can make all the difference in building lasting relationships with clients and driving sustainable business growth.

Pro tip: "The best salespeople in today's environment are those that can articulate the pain the prospect is suffering. The better you can capture their current frustration, the better you can position your product as the solution. Customers want to be heard," Callum Laing, founder of the Veblen Director Programme and a Partner at Unity Group, explained.

"Value-based selling means asking really good questions and listening to the answers. You need to be willing to walk away if you're not the best solution," Laing continues.

A Value-Based Selling Framework

The reasons why buyers buy are the first part of the equation. They fall into three categories:

• Resonate. Buyers must want and need what you're selling. Your offering should align with their goals, challenges, and aspirations.
• Differentiate. Your offering must stand out from other available options. What makes your product or service unique? Why should they choose you over competitors?
• Substantiate. Buyers need to believe you'll deliver on your promises. Can you provide evidence, case studies, or testimonials that prove your claims?

"When your value proposition successfully covers these three areas, you convince buyers that they need your solution, you're the best option, and they believe you'll achieve results," writes Mike Schultz, president of RAIN Group.

Most of the experts I spoke with agree: Value-based selling starts with considering the customer first.

"The first thing to keep in mind with value-based selling is that it's not about what you, as the salesperson, perceive the value of your product or service to be. It's about understanding what's valuable in a solution for the customer and then determining if your product is a fit for their need," explains Christina Brady, co-founder and CEO of Luster, an AI role-play and practice platform for sales professionals.

Pro tip: Our Sales Hub empowers sales teams to index on quality over quantity when selling to customers.

Why Value-Based Selling Matters

• It builds trust with prospects. By prioritizing the customer's needs over your sales targets, you establish yourself as a trusted advisor rather than just another salesperson. In fact, I learned that top-performing sellers are 60% more likely to excel at presenting the overall value persuasively and 63% more likely to excel at making and communicating strong ROI and financial cases for buyers.
• It leads to more informed buying decisions. When you educate your prospects about their challenges and potential solutions, they're better equipped to make decisions that truly benefit their business.
• It creates long-term, satisfied customers. Customers who feel their needs have been understood and met are more likely to become loyal, repeat buyers and brand advocates.
• It helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace. In a world where prospects are bombarded with sales messages, I've found a value-based approach can set you apart from competitors who are still using aggressive, product-centric tactics.
• It aligns with modern buying behaviors. Today's buyers are more informed and self-directed than ever. I like how value-based selling respects this by providing relevant, helpful information throughout the buying process. According to RAIN Group, buyers report that a seller's "focus on the value they can deliver" is the #1 most influential factor in their purchase decision - with 96% finding it influential.

Best Practices for Value-Based Selling

To learn more about value-based selling, I spoke with experts who have firsthand experience in this department. If you're looking to level up your selling skills, these tips are a great place to start.

1. Do your homework.

Remember, the goal of value-based selling is to close the sale by putting the needs of your prospect first. However, you can't put your prospect's needs first if you don't know what those needs are. Always do your homework to understand your contact - usually well before hopping on a sales call.

When researching a prospect, aim to understand their company and industry, background, and current pain points. By understanding these pieces of information, you'll have a solid grasp of how to serve them best.

Here is some information I recommend researching when you prepare for your call.

Their Current Role and Previous Job Experience

I've found a simple LinkedIn search can help you learn about your prospect's career history. Are they new to their current role? If so, they might still be ramping up and could benefit from learning from you.

Is this their first time making this type of purchasing decision, or have they been in similar roles? If they have experience in this area, they may be more interested in expediting the process, so you can better serve them with efficiency.

Common Connections

If you have a common connection with a prospect, that can help you build trust with them faster. Additionally, the contact could help provide key insights into the prospect's pain points and how you could provide value to them.

Content Shared on Social Media

If your prospect has a public X or Facebook profile, checking out what content they have recently shared or engaged with can give you an idea as to what is currently important to them.

Their Company's Website, Press, and Social Media Pages

This will tell you whether their company has undergone any recent leadership changes, is currently releasing a new product, or has been in the news.

Their Contact Listing in Your CRM

Before hopping on the phone with your prospect, I definitely recommend checking out their profile in your CRM. This will tell you if and when any of your colleagues have engaged with them and what content from your company they have opened or engaged with.

Additionally, performing a simple Google search for their company's competitors will give you a great deal of information about their industry landscape.

Pro tip: Remember, as Dale Shephard, founder of TrinityHawk, wisely points out, "Asking unprepared questions that you should know will not garner trust, and your prospect will close up." The more you know going in, the more value you can provide from the very first interaction.

2. Don't jump into your sales pitch too early.

It's tempting to launch into your carefully crafted sales pitch as soon as you get your prospect on the line. Resist this urge! Instead, give your prospect space to explain their current situation and what they're looking for.

"The first thing you learn as a salesperson is not to data dump. If you're going in blind and start listing everything your company does, you will exhaust the prospect's attention span before you get to the part they care about," says Jeff Walling, co-owner of ABM Equipment.

By listening first, you'll gain invaluable insights that will help you tailor your approach and position your product or service as the ideal solution to their specific needs.

"Best practice is always to start by asking the client what their needs are, think about what pains you can solve, and then only talk about those. That's why, in person-to-person sales, it can be said that all good selling is value-based selling," Walling adds.

3. Communicate how your product provides value to the customer.

Once you understand your prospect's needs, it's time to articulate how your product or service provides value to them specifically. Remember, if they didn't have a problem to solve or a need to fulfill, they wouldn't be in the market for a new product.

I think Tim Peters, CMO at Enghouse Systems, articulates this perfectly:

"The real essence of value-based selling isn't in telling a prospect about your value - it's in demonstrating that you understand their specific problem better than they do. The shift that no one talks about is this: The sale isn't about convincing the customer your solution has value; it's about making them realize the cost of inaction is far greater than the price of your solution."

As you look to sell, I recommend you make sure the benefits of your product are easy to understand and relevant to your prospect. For example:

• Is your product designed to reduce cycle time and improve productivity for those who use it?
• Does your company offer free training that will help customers quickly get up to speed after they have made their purchase?
• Does the purchase of your product include free automatic updates for customers to make their jobs easier?

For example, don't just say your software improves productivity. Instead, explain how it can reduce their specific pain point of long project cycles by 30%, based on results you've seen with similar clients.

Whatever those unique differentiators are for your offering, make sure they are aligned with the needs of the customer and use these points to guide your sales conversations. Personalization should be your primary goal because "value is subjective," Peters explained to me.

"What's valuable to one client is irrelevant to another, and the only way to uncover what they truly care about is to stop thinking about value in generic terms. You need to become an expert at reading between the lines, uncovering hidden needs, and showing your customer the future they didn't even know they wanted."

4. Focus on teaching instead of selling.

One of the most effective ways I've found to provide value to my prospects and customers is to help educate them on a topic of interest. When you take an education-first approach, you become their go-to resource for information, which helps you build trust.

This could involve:

• Sharing industry insights.
• Offering solutions to common challenges in their field.
• Providing relevant case studies or white papers.

Once trust is established and the prospect is ready to buy, your offering is far more appealing because you have already demonstrated value instead of pushing the sale without any proof of value for the buyer.

For example, if you work in software sales, instead of running through a recycled sales pitch with a prospect, you can first contact them asking what their top three challenges are. Then during your meeting - instead of talking at them with slides - you can walk them through possible solutions they could take to solve their challenges in an informative, engaging way.

Pro tip: Take the time to listen to your customer first. "The great paradox of sales is that those who love to talk are the ones who last longest in the job, but shutting up is the weapon of the good salesperson," says Walling.

5. Guide the prospect through the buying process.

In value-based selling, I like to think of your role as that of a consultant, helping your prospect make the most informed decision possible. This means:

• Sharing fresh ideas and strategies.
• Helping them understand potential pitfalls or challenges.
• Offering real-life examples of how other customers have succeeded (or struggled) with certain approaches.

For example, if your prospect asks if they should take an action that you would typically not recommend, share a real-life example of how taking said action resulted in a setback for another buyer. I find this helps your prospect maintain their position in the driver's seat for their buying decision and helps you convey your message in an honest, helpful manner.

6. Keep a personable approach.

Value-based selling is all about building relationships, and that requires a personable, conversational approach. Here are my tips to keep things conversational:

• Ask open-ended questions. All of the questions you ask your prospect should be for the sake of genuinely getting to know them, and they should all require answers that require some explanation. Aim to not ask questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no."
• Master the art of small talk. While small talk may be the bane of every introvert's existence, there's no denying it can be a powerful tool for building trust with your prospect. When in doubt, asking about their professional interests and responsibilities or upcoming events they are planning or attending can be effective go-to topics.
• Speak as if you're talking to a friend. Ultimately, you want the prospect to feel like they are receiving advice from a trusted advisor. Deliver your content the way you would deliver it to a friend to keep it personable and relatable.

If you're looking for some helpful conversation starters, this post is full of great tips and examples.

7. Add value during every interaction.

Last but certainly not least, I recommend making sure you add value each time you engage with your prospect to continue building trust and creating a long-term positive experience. You want them to feel heard and supported each time they interact with you.

This could look like making sure you leave plenty of time to answer their questions in each meeting, not interrupting them when speaking, or even sharing helpful articles or content that is relevant to their business even when you aren't actively engaged in a sales conversation. The small steps you take to make your prospect's job easier can pay dividends in the long run.

Value-Based Selling Methodologies

Now that we've covered the key principles, let's look at four main approaches to value-based selling that I've found effective in my career.

1. Qualitative Value-Focused Selling

Your value-selling framework doesn't have to rely on hard numbers. In many cases, speaking to the more abstract, qualitative benefits your product or service can offer is in your best interest. Delivering on this tactic leans heavily on your understanding of your prospect's day-to-day pain points.

• How can you make life easier for your buyer and their employees?
• What can you do to iron out hitches, hiccups, and inefficiencies they face consistently?
• And what will the benefits that come with that "ironing out" look like?

For example, if you're selling a project management tool, you might focus on how it reduces stress, improves team collaboration, and gives managers more visibility into their projects.

2. Financial Incentive-Based Selling

This isn't exactly radical or shocking to point out, but businesses generally exist to make money. Financial success is one of the more obvious ways to gauge the value of a product or service - so being able to point to how your offering can help in that realm provides a solid basis for effective value selling.

If you can give hard figures or reference points for how much revenue your prospect can expect to generate with your offering or how it can reign in operating costs, you can frame a compelling, more concrete value proposition for them.

You can get there by providing case studies of similar businesses you've helped in the past or citing certain processes and practices they implement that you can make more efficient. One way or another, show that your offering can have a direct bearing on their financial well-being.

Pro tip: Hard figures can be very persuasive, especially when selling to C-suite executives.

3. Differentiation-Focused Selling

Successful companies generally don't blend in with the pack. They're distinct from their competition in some way, shape, or form. That's why pushing a differentiation-oriented angle while value selling is one of the more effective roads you can take.

What can your offering do to enhance the most compelling, unique aspects of your prospect's brand identity? If you can show that your product or service aligns well with who your buyer wants to be within their competitive landscape, I know you'll set yourself up for a successful value-selling effort.

For example, if you're selling to a company that prides itself on innovation, you might focus on how your cutting-edge technology can help them stay ahead of the curve.

4. Security or Risk Aversion-Focused Selling

Anxiety is a powerful motivator, and almost every business has its fair share of risks that keep its leadership up at night. Those could be anything from direct security threats to emerging industry trends they might be struggling to keep pace with.

If you can identify any specific fears or stressful vulnerabilities your prospect is dealing with, you'll build a solid foundation for effective value selling. As you can probably assume, business leaders generally prefer operating as smoothly and securely as possible - if your offering can get them there, don't hesitate to sell on that basis.

For example, if you're selling cybersecurity solutions, you might focus on how your product can protect against the latest threats and help the company avoid costly data breaches.

Value-Based Selling Examples

For the sake of illustration, I'll share an example of a SaaS company that sells a construction management platform. A rep from that business is selling to a local fast-food chain, looking to expand its operations into a new region.

Here's a look at how they might approach each type of value selling.

1. Qualitative Value-Based Selling Example

In this scenario, the rep has been working with leadership at the chain for around a month. In one of their conversations, the CEO mentioned being frustrated with lapses in communication with construction managers.

Let's say the rep's platform offers executives comprehensive visibility into their construction managers' project management. If they wanted to sell based on qualitative value, they might speak to how owners who leverage the platform deal with fewer headaches from miscommunication with their construction teams.

2. Financial Value-Based Selling Example

If the rep wanted to value sell based on financial incentives, they might try to cite case studies of other regional restaurant chains that saw boosts in revenue or considerable savings as a result of leveraging the platform. They would likely reference the hard numbers behind those improvements and demonstrate how their prospect's business could fit a similar mold.

3. Differentiation Value-Based Selling Example

Here, the rep might try to value sell based on differentiation by speaking to how the prospect's direct competitors that aren't leveraging construction management platforms are consistently running into delays and conducting inefficient builds.

The rep would let the prospect know that their company's software could give the chain some extra oomph to expand more effectively - relative to its industry peers.

4. Security Value-Based Selling Example

In this case, the rep would likely discuss the various threats and hitches businesses like theirs deal with when it comes to rapidly expanding into new territories - including construction delays, surprise costs, and potential disputes with contractors and builders.

Remember, the key is to tailor your approach based on what resonates most with your specific prospect.

See Success With Value-Based Selling

Value selling is an approach that any person can take when engaging with prospective customers - not just traditional salespeople. It's a philosophy purely rooted in solving for the customer.

My biggest learning? If you want to leverage the method successfully, be sure to lead with empathy, consider your prospect's needs holistically, listen actively, and take on an advisory role in the process. As I continue building my freelance business, I'm keen to implement these learnings and find more ways to communicate and deliver value to my clients.

And if you want a quick takeaway, Walling offers some great parting advice: "Salespeople can forget about all these little steps and strategies and do two things: be sincere and yourself, and honestly try to help your customer."

Master these elements, and you'll see the results you want from your value-selling efforts. It may take time to perfect your approach, but the long-term benefits - stronger customer relationships, higher close rates, and increased customer loyalty - make it well worth the effort.

Editor's note: This post was originally published on November 12, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Topics: Sales Strategy

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