Value-based selling
This workshop will help you create, develop and close business opportunities using a consultative approach and a value-based (not price-led) proposition.
Value-based selling means working the way your customer wants to buy, not how you want to sell. It also means:
- Defining problems and improvements clearly and in detail
- Exploring and defining the value associated with solving or achieving these
- Matching your solutions to these issues
- Structuring your bid, proposal and proposition around the customer’s buying criteria, ideas and expectations
- Creating a positive and enjoyable buying experience based on trust and rapport
- Finally, it is about creating compelling reasons to choose your proposition that are not based solely on price
In a transactional sale the customer knows the answer without help from a salesperson (or cannot see why they should choose you), or is prepared to stay with what they have. Customer decision criteria are price and convenience and customers resent time spent with (new) salespeople, mainly because the salesperson adds little or nothing to what the customer already has and just wastes time.
In a consultative or value-based sale, by contrast, the customer doesn’t know the answer already. The salesperson must take the role of an advisor, not just a ‘product promoter’. Customers demand expertise, advice and customisation during the sales process. Often customers insist on multiple meetings with salespeople and others to develop advantages that you can bring and reduce the perceived risk of changing. In this way the salesperson often adds more value than the product or service alone.
Learning objectives
- Increased impact of your new sales conversations, presentations and proposals – leading to faster decisions and increased conversion
- Greater confidence, consistency and professionalism throughout the business development process
- Enhanced sales questioning skills and techniques, leading to better, faster and more accurate development of customer needs, problems, value and expectations
- Improve your people, communication, influence and persuasion skills when approaching, consulting or presenting your services and solutions
- How to build value at all points in the customer’s buying process through your knowledge, skills and structured approach
- Proven ways to gain additional business and referrals from existing customers and contacts, through direct approach and lead generation
- Being better able differentiate your firm, your solutions, track-record and expertise clearly and accurately with tailored value statements for each stage and for each opportunity
- Overcome and avoid price-based objections, buying criteria and negotiation
Who should attend?
This highly-practical skills-based training programme will benefit all those who are involved in approaching, developing, presenting or negotiating new business opportunities. This includes winning brand new customers and developing new revenue from existing clients, contacts or prospects. It is suitable for all levels and types of sales and marketing staff.
Format
This two-day workshop is highly interactive and encourages participation through a combination of short presentations, group discussion, practical exercises (including structured role-play), case studies, and breakout sessions designed to help participants learn new skills and reinforce existing abilities.
The second day features extensive rehearsal and review of current and real-life pitches, presentations and proposals.
Special features
Another key feature is that all participants are asked to complete a pre-workshop questionnaire. This asks them to identify some personal learning objectives ahead of the training, perhaps in discussion with a manager. They will also be asked to bring with them two typical or current sales opportunities or prospects and a report showing some sales KPIs from the last 2-3 months.
The more advance access the trainer has to examples of sales proposals from your company, the more focused and beneficial will be the participants’ learning experience. If required, the trainer can also give a best practice review of any standard company templates and can also give feedback on individual and live proposals.
For maximum impact, it is recommended that the trainer spend some time with you analysing your current approach, so that the programme can be tailored to focus on those areas that could deliver the greatest benefits, eg:
- Reviewing the learning points, to emphasise those that are particularly relevant to your team, adding or omitting material as required in order to meet your precise objectives
- Toolkit changed to fit your target products and customer types and to be consistent with your internal culture, terminology and style
- Integration of product or service information into bespoke ‘best practice’ case studies and exercises
Expert trainer
Graham specialises in providing high-quality consultancy, coaching and training in sales, sales management, customer service and personal productivity. He has a long career in sales and was a top-performing IT and solutions sales professional and sales manager. His most recent full-time role was as Managing Director of Sales Productivity and Development for Thomson Financial, helping develop a large European sales force.
His work has taken him all over the world and involved him in working closely with hundreds of different organisations from all business sectors, his client list including such organisations as BT, Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, Pfizer, GSK, Boots, Unilever, American Express, Thomas Cook, Apple, Sony, Motorola, Cisco, MFI, Barclays Bank, LIFFE, Abbey National, Prison Service, Home Office, Law Society, BBC, Daimler-Chrysler, Citroen, Weetabix, Nikon, Shell and many, many others. In addition he has written over twenty books published in several different countries, including Companies don’t succeed – people do!, 90 Brain Teasers for Trainers, Customer Service Games for Training, Sales Training Games, Telephone Tactics and Working Smarter.
Known internationally as both a trainer and a popular motivational speaker, he believes that effective learning has to be interactive and challenging. All his learning events are built around practical exercises, role play and case studies. His training style focuses not on just explaining new ideas or developing new skills, but also on motivating people to use them and to develop themselves as individuals. This approach gets results, as the following comments from course participants show:
‘Brilliant course, really interesting and very focused to my job role and day to day work.’
‘Took away some very good ideas that I can use every day… good examples too.’
‘Very confident in the subject, and amusing too. Made the course very interesting. A very clear sales model to use going forward.’
‘Full of useful hints and tips which I will apply to my job.’
‘Extremely well presented and structured’
‘A very intensive course and a lot of concrete tools provided.’
‘Useful data, tools and insights; engaging and interesting as always.’
‘Very good… contained everything we do on a regular basis and problems we have come across… the exercises made it very interesting too.’
The more advance access the trainer has to examples of sales proposals from your company, the more focused and beneficial will be the participants’ learning experience. If required, the trainer can also give a best practice review of any standard company templates and can also give feedback on individual and live proposals.
For maximum impact, it is recommended that the trainer spend some time with you analysing your current approach, so that the programme can be tailored to focus on those areas that could deliver the greatest benefits, eg:
- Reviewing the learning points, to emphasise those that are particularly relevant to your team, adding or omitting material as required in order to meet your precise objectives
- Toolkit changed to fit your target products and customer types and to be consistent with your internal culture, terminology and style
- Integration of product or service information into bespoke ‘best practice’ case studies and exercises
1 Introduction and key principles of value-based selling
- Introduction and review of pre-course questionnaires – KPIs, personal learning objectives and key principles
- The main principles of value-based selling and how they benefit you and the customer
- How value-based selling differs from ‘transactional’ or ‘price-based’ selling
- The stages of the customer’s buying cycle – how to identify and work through strategies for each stage
- The concept of structured and set-piece selling and proposing
- Presentation by participants: Personal sales improvement goals
2 Value-based selling strategies and skills
- What is value? How can one move away from a price-led agenda?
- How to survive and resist price pressure – six techniques
- A review of key competencies and skills needed for a value-based approach
- Strategies, case studies and examples with discussion and review
- Defining your initial value proposition and comparative advantage
- How best to established the right level of trust, rapport and credibility
- Planning and practice session: Strategy – mapping a value-based sales process.
3 Connecting skills
- Research before the meeting and the first few minutes – ways to gain instant rapport and setting the foundation for a successful outcome in a first sales call
- How to structure an effective first time sales call or meeting – the subtle differences that are important to master
- How best to differentiate your solutions and build credibility and enthusiasm early or at the start of the buying process
- Overcoming initial buying resistance and relaxing the prospect; gaining rapport, opening the meeting: PBC (purpose-benefit-check) and gaining agreement to proceed
- Planning and practice session: Connecting – first meeting with a new contact
4 Consulting – building, developing and influencing client needs
- Understanding the power of high-impact and third-level questions to influence people based around specific needs and solutions
- The importance of body language and other personal communication dynamics when asking questions; empathic listening, run-on questions, drawing out skills, summarising, etc
- Creating a ‘disturb’ approach to creating needs and opportunities and positioning your solutions
- Using proven advanced sales questioning techniques with greater skill: Outcome, SPIN and qualification questions
- ‘Decision-making criteria’ – tools to help you develop the relevant criteria with the customer and in doing so progress your sales opportunities more effectively
- Planning and practice session: Questioning skills
5 Convincing – presentation and persuading skills practice
- Substance and style – selecting the right tone and content to engage and enthuse your prospect
- Compelling benefits and reducing perceived risk – key messages to deliver
- Helping the customer choose your proposition – by being convincing, compelling and credible when you present
- Professional and effective presentation skills – with personal coaching and practice sessions
- The keys of influence and persuasion and the keys to convincing a new customer to choose you for the first time
- Planning and practice session: Role-play in presenting your solution
6 Commitment
- Knowing when and how to close for commitment to the next stage in your sales process, plus ways to ask for commitment professionally and effectively
- How to isolate, prioritise and answer objections and concerns more openly and accurately, using a consultative not a confrontational approach
- Deal more effectively and profitably with price objections and reduce buyer’s remorse (which can lead to an ‘I want to think about it’ reaction and cause delay and inertia)
- Key negotiation skills around the closing process – getting to ‘yes’
- Planning and practice session: Role-play in closing and negotiation skills
7 Assessed role-play – Final practice session
- There is an option for external participants to be brought in to the live training workshop to take-part in the final assessed role-play or assist with other sessions run during the course.
Performance assessment – ‘Dragon’s Pitch’
- The final afternoon of the course is an assessed role-play using a prepared scenario and external ‘CEO’. The assessment criteria will be agreed prior to the workshop.
8 Workshop summary and close
- Personal action plan and learning summary
Any questions? Please just give us a call on 01582 463463 – we’re here to help!