IS VALUE A MYSTERY TO YOU?
Let's de-mystify value
A salesperson’s job is to unlock value for their clients.
Price is never the reason customers do not buy, customers do not buy because they do not see value in an offer. I have to thank my colleague for this concept, because after we decided to execute a learning and development workshop on “Leveraging Relevant Value” we had plenty of brainstorming on how people see “value”.
From a sales point of view, it’s easy to mention “I understand what value is, but we lose customers because we are out-priced by competition”. A mystery, after all the only side of value that a salesperson knows; is what we can do, our products, services, capabilities, reputation, and so forth. But until they know how the customer defines value, it remains in the mystery box.
Sure, they can approximate. Product managers who have spent a lot of time talking to and living with customers can presumably have some idea. The salesperson who has sold their products and services to similar customers with success isn’t completely clueless. Knowing the customers’ problems, opportunities, challenges, priorities, and needs, give us more insight and clues. This can lead to some great sales conversation starters, but until they have explored with the customer who is involved in the buying process, the value remains a mystery.
Let’s de-mystify value.
By holding deep conversations with each customer involved in the buying process we can learn what they value. By observing and engaging in the right sales conversations with the right people we can translate this knowledge into understanding what value is for the customer in this situation, and then how we can solve it.
Meanwhile, I have started to think; could it be that value is also a mystery to our customers? The more I ponder about it, I feel I’ve been trivialising the task of determining what customers value. I’ve often heard about value being in the eye of the beholder – that of the customer. I’ve been talking about methods sales professionals can use to engage the customer and determine what they value, then present their solutions in a differentiated manner.
But could it be that value is a mystery to our customers?
I must admit that most salespeople are good at asking standard scripted questions, “What are you looking for”, “ What expectations do you have from this product”, “Is it the first time that you are buying from us” etc. and customers are also equally adept at responding to these questions.
In all our sales development programs we have been asked to uncover the problems, dissatisfactions, and pain areas to identify needs. All these give us only assumptive clues but won’t open the mystery box to understand what is in the customer’s mind.
Asking a customer directly what they value most, probably brings a blank look on the customer’s face or causes the discussion to veer back to the price. Whilst there is always a set of probable needs that they articulate, it is my belief that the value element is a mystery to the customer as well.
Value has another more emotional dimension, which can not be accessed by asking questions or collecting data. The customer may not have given this deep thought or may not have been able to articulate it. They likely know the feature(s), but the feature(s) is only meaningful in a context.
That context, intersected with emotional awareness, is where value becomes de-mystified.
When we start exploring the context in which value is present, we start to understand ‘the why’ behind our customer’s actions. We know we have started to demystify value, when in the sales conversation all of a sudden you see the customer’s eyes light up, they have that “aha” moment. Or there is that magic change in energy level, engagement, and openness where we suddenly move from question and answer (ping-pong) to a conversation.
Largely the true value remains in the Mystery Box, unexplored– to our customers and our salespeople. It’s the great sales professional that recognises this and moves from questions and answers into a richer conversation, coloured with context and emotion.
What are your experiences? Is value a mystery to your customers? What are some of the ways you have de-mystified value?
Written by Alliance Partner Sivasubramaniam Viswanathan
