Value-based selling is an effective sales tactic that allows businesses to present why value should be prioritized over price with any product, service, or initiative.
Adding value to every interaction, focusing on teaching rather than selling, not jumping into a sales pitch too early, and communicating with intent how a product or service provides value are ways to influence successful value-based selling. Additionally, question timing can improve this selling approach as sales professionals can better extract takeaways from meetings and sales calls. It also directly addresses the pain points clients have by offering value propositions that entice their interests.
When establishing a value-based selling framework and understanding the principles behind the approach, leaders will see that the timing and impact of questions, in conjunction with leveraging the elements of value, are the aspects that make value-based selling successful.
Doing Your Homework on Your Prospects
One of the most crucial aspects of value-based selling is doing your homework, always highlighting the needs of prospects/clients first before proceeding with any value-based strategy. To know what their needs are, sales professionals and teams must research their prospects. They must understand the companies and industries that their prospects are a part of, their background, and the pain points they constantly contend with. Understanding such information allows sales professionals to better identify the motivations of prospects and how to best serve them.
Sales professionals should not only look at job history and experiences, but they should also look for any common connections with prospects, thus, establishing a starting point from which they can build a trusting relationship. Furthermore, clients are more inclined to provide key insights into their pain points, contributing to better takeaways and increased conversational value.
Being More of a Teacher Than a Seller
For value-based selling to work, a bit of cognitive science should be applied. Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary study of cognitive processes, facilitating elements of psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and other disciplines. By understanding how the mind works and what motivates prospects/clients during sales calls, sales professionals can approach prospects thoughtfully, educating others about services rather than just telling them why the services work and thus why they should try them immediately.
Any of the 87% of companies that take a value-based selling approach must be cognizant of integrating cognitive science into the selling process; some ‘question science’ if you will. By understanding how prospects think, question timing becomes easier for sales professionals as they can better understand concerns and follow up where necessary. Tools like conversational AI allow sales teams to identify buyer signals to improve engagement, capitalizing on any mentions or points that best add value to conversations. Sales teams can facilitate better questions and feedback during sales calls and explain aspects of a product or service so that clients understand how they work and can maximize the value of the product/service that you’re selling to them. Being a guide requires having the acumen to recognize what clients’ needs are and encouraging open communication where both sides propose a value proposition and find an appropriate compromise.
How Adding Value During Conversations Boosts Value-Based Selling
Adding value during conversations is another key element of value-based selling. Making prospects feel like they’re consistently being heard and appreciated for their contributions increases opportunities to improve close rates and build the kind of trust that leads to clients becoming advocates of your products or services.
During each meeting, leaders should give prospects/clients as much time as they need to answer questions so that they don’t feel overwhelmed or pressured to make a decision. Forcing decisions on prospects makes them more likely to take their interest elsewhere. Also, simple things like not interrupting people during meetings increase conversational value because there are free-flowing idea exchanges taking place, leading to better insights, improved engagement signals, and key takeaways that allow sales professionals and prospects to make more informed decisions.
Also, remote teams should consider providing content or relevant articles when not involved in sales conversations with prospects, facilitating the opportunity for prospects to ask more questions. The more opportunities sales teams offer prospects/clients to learn about products/services, the more useful insights teams can garner that not only help to close a deal with the client in question but provide best practices for future meetings.
Sales teams should ensure they ask open-ended questions, genuinely getting to know their prospects/clients while ensuring that the answers given provide clear explanations. Conversational AI acts as a guide that pairs insights with questions, so teams know what the best questions are to ask during a given call.
How and when sales professionals ask questions are vital for improving the quality of conversations as these aspects of value-based selling improve information gathering and leveraging. Plus, the impact of questions and cognitive science add the human elements necessary to build trusting relationships that last long-term.
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