g-f(2)2445 Mastering Value-Based Sales: A Five-Part Process for Collaborative Success

 

genioux Fact post by Fernando Machuca and Claude

Introduction:

In the highly competitive world of B2B sales, companies often struggle to reap the full benefits of their innovative products, despite investing heavily in development. The article "Acing Value-Based Sales" from MIT Sloan Management Review explores the reasons behind this common pitfall and provides a comprehensive framework for successful value-based selling. By emphasizing the importance of collaboration with customers to define and share the commercial opportunity, the authors present a five-part process grounded in the principles of commitment, understanding, and proof.

genioux GK Nugget:

"Successful value-based selling requires collaboration with customers to define and share the commercial opportunity, fostering commitment, understanding, and proof." —  Fernando Machuca and Claude, May 30, 2024

genioux Foundational Fact:

The five-part process for successful value-based sales, developed by the authors over years of helping companies achieve long-term returns from product development, consists of the following steps: motivate, educate, quantify, translate, and reward. This process is grounded in the principles of commitment, understanding, and proof, which are essential to building deeper relationships with customers and cocreating value.

The 10 most relevant genioux Facts:

1. Value is cocreated with customers who play an active role in realizing desired outcomes.
2. Successful value-based sellers prove the added value of their products and services while gaining commitment from customers and fostering a shared understanding of the opportunity.
3. Motivating customers to participate in joint value creation is crucial, and the best basis for this is when the balance of power between buyers and sellers is relatively even.
4. Educating customers about the full range of benefits offered by a solution helps them question the wisdom of pushing on price.
5. Quantifying the impact of a benefit depends on its relevance, quantifiability, and verifiability.
6. Translating the impact of a product into a compelling business case involves presenting key messages, the right amount of detail, and clear next steps.
7. Incentives for both the company and customers are essential to create and allocate value over an extended period.
8. Rigorous quantification is the core task in providing proof and improving sales efforts.
9. Appointing a full-time value leader independent of sales and marketing is crucial for establishing commitment and understanding.
10. A shared and respected definition of value, supported by the right tools and mindset, enables companies to expand their target markets and engage in key account management at scale.

Conclusion:

"Acing Value-Based Sales" offers a comprehensive and actionable framework for companies seeking to maximize the returns on their innovative products. By emphasizing the importance of collaboration, commitment, understanding, and proof in the value-based selling process, the authors provide a roadmap for building deeper, more productive relationships with customers. The five-part process, along with the appointment of a value leader and the establishment of a shared definition of value, enables companies to cocreate value with their customers and reap the full benefits of their innovations. Embracing this approach to value-based selling can help companies expand their target markets, engage in key account management at scale, and ultimately achieve long-term success in the highly competitive B2B sales environment.

REFERENCES

The g-f GK Context

Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg, and Todd Snelgrove, Acing Value-Based Sales, MIT Sloan Management Review, May 22, 2024.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Marco Bertini is a professor of marketing and the director of open executive programs at Esade, in Barcelona, and a senior adviser to Globalpraxis. Oded Koenigsberg is executive dean, Dubai; professor of marketing; and chair, marketing faculty, at London Business School. Todd Snelgrove is the founder of consultancy Experts in Value and a fractional VP of sales at Sales Xceleration.

Classical Summary:

The article "Acing Value-Based Sales" from MIT Sloan Management Review addresses the common challenge faced by companies in realizing significant and sustainable returns from their innovative products in B2B markets. Despite investing heavily in product development and value-based selling programs, many organizations fail to achieve the desired outcomes due to a flawed premise that their differentiated offerings inherently deserve a higher price.

The authors argue that value is cocreated with customers who play an active role in realizing desired outcomes. Successful value-based sellers not only prove the added value of their products and services but also gain commitment from customers and foster a shared understanding of the opportunity. To achieve this, the article presents a five-part process for successful value-based sales, grounded in the principles of commitment, understanding, and proof.

The first step, motivate, involves setting the context for value cocreation by ensuring a relatively even balance of power between buyers and sellers and addressing customers' financial capacity to purchase and implement the solution. The second step, educate, focuses on raising awareness of the full range of benefits offered by the solution, helping customers question the wisdom of pushing on price.

At the heart of the process is the third step, quantify, which tackles the "ABC problem" of expressing product or service attributes as customer benefits and translating them into shared cash. The impact of a benefit depends on its relevance, quantifiability, and verifiability. The fourth step, translate, involves turning the quantified impact into a compelling business case that resonates with customers and encourages them to cocreate value.

The final step, reward, emphasizes the importance of aligning interests with smart incentives for both the company and customers to create and allocate value over an extended period. This includes selecting appropriate price metrics and points, as well as providing incentives for salespeople to negotiate price-value trade-offs effectively.

The authors recommend two parallel initiatives for companies implementing their value-based selling process: improving their ability to provide proof through rigorous quantification and appointing a full-time value leader independent of sales and marketing. The value leader plays a crucial role in establishing commitment and understanding, representing the customer's interests, and aligning the organization on a shared definition of value.

By adopting this comprehensive framework and making value a habit, companies can expand their target markets and engage in key account management at scale. The article emphasizes that successful value-based selling requires continuous attention to the ABC problem, collaboration with customers, and a shared understanding of value creation to achieve long-term returns from product development.

Marco Bertini

Marco Bertini is a distinguished professor of marketing at Esade, where he also serves as the director of open executive programs¹². In addition to his roles at Esade, he is a senior advisor to Globalpraxis¹².

As a behavioral scientist, Bertini leverages insights from economics and psychology to help organizations sustain profitable relationships with customers¹². His work focuses on helping leaders make more informed decisions about how value is created and shared in markets, with a particular emphasis on managing the delicate transition from customer satisfaction to revenue¹².

Bertini is the co-author of the book “The Ends Game: How Smart Companies Stop Selling Products and Start Delivering Value,” which explores how technology and society stimulate accountability, prompting companies to profit from the outcomes they deliver rather than the offerings they bring to market¹².

His articles have appeared in leading journals for management science and practice and have been featured in media outlets including BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Forbes, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Vox¹². He was named to the Thinkers50 Radar, a shortlist of the people “most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led.” Prior to this, he was recognized by the Marketing Science Institute as one of the most promising scholars in the field¹².

Originally from Italy, Bertini grew up in Australia and subsequently lived in the United States, the United Kingdom, and now Spain¹². He received his doctorate from Harvard Business School and previously served on the faculty at London Business School. He was also a visiting professor at Harvard Business School and a senior advisor to Boston Consulting Group¹².

In summary, Marco Bertini is a renowned marketing professor and behavioral scientist, known for his work in helping organizations build profitable relationships with customers and his contributions to the understanding of digital transformation in the business world¹².

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 5/30/2024

(1) Who I am - Marco Bertini. https://marcobertini.com/who-i-am/.

(2) Faculty & Research - Bertini, Marco - Esade. https://www.esade.edu/faculty/marco.bertini.

(3) Marco Bertini | IEEE Xplore Author Details. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37267334200.

(4) undefined. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucad018.

Todd Snelgrove

Todd Snelgrove is a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in the field of value-based selling and marketing. He is the founder of Experts in Value, a consultancy firm that helps companies realize the immediate profit impact for the value they create². In addition to running his consultancy, Snelgrove also serves as a fractional VP of Sales at Sales Xceleration².

Snelgrove has over 20 years of industry experience, during which he has led global teams in understanding, presenting, calculating, pricing, and purchasing on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or Total Profit Added™️ (TPA™️) for global Industrial B2B companies¹. His work focuses on helping companies develop and implement best-in-class pricing strategies, create services and product-as-a-service businesses, commercial value agreements, strategic account programs, all based on helping companies negotiate based on best value not lowest price¹.

His expertise and contributions to the field have been recognized by leading business schools and scholarly reviews published by Harvard, MIT Sloan, Case Western, Wake Forest, Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, London Business Press, Routledge, and others¹. He also leads sessions on value at Executive MBA courses at IMD Switzerland, Chalmers Sweden, Kellogg USA, ESADE Barcelona, University of Tennessee USA, University of Macquarie Australia, University of North Carolina, and London Business School¹.

In summary, Todd Snelgrove is a highly respected figure in the field of value-based selling and marketing. His roles at Experts in Value and Sales Xceleration, coupled with his impactful contributions to the field, make him a leading voice in value-based business strategies¹².

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 5/30/2024

(1) Value Selling - The Experts in Value. https://expertsinvalue.com/.

(2) Todd Snelgrove - Copperberg. https://www.copperberg.com/todd-snelgrove/.

(3) Todd Snelgrove | East Foundation. https://eastfoundation.net/the-foundation/our-team/east-foundation-team/todd-snelgrove/.

(4) Todd Snelgrove | Biographies | National Arts Centre. https://nac-cna.ca/en/bio/todd-snelgrove.

Oded Koenigsberg

Oded Koenigsberg is an esteemed academic and professional in the field of marketing. He currently holds multiple roles at London Business School, including Executive Dean for Dubai, Professor of Marketing, and Chair of the Marketing Faculty¹.

Koenigsberg earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Technion, his Master of Engineering from Cornell University, and his PhD from Duke University¹. His academic journey has equipped him with a deep understanding of marketing strategies and their impact on business growth¹.

In his role as Executive Dean for Dubai, Koenigsberg oversees the school's operations and initiatives in the region¹. As a Professor of Marketing, he shares his expertise and insights with students, helping them understand the complexities of the marketing landscape¹. As Chair of the Marketing Faculty, he leads a team of academics in conducting research and delivering high-quality education¹.

Koenigsberg's work has been widely recognized in the academic community. His research has been cited over 1500 times, demonstrating the impact and relevance of his contributions². His co-authors include notable academics from institutions such as HEC Paris, University of Mannheim, and the Wharton School².

In addition to his roles at London Business School, Koenigsberg has made significant contributions to the field of marketing through his research. His work focuses on various aspects of marketing, including price discrimination in service industries, the role of production lead time and demand uncertainty in marketing durable goods, and strategies for managing deteriorating inventory².

In summary, Oded Koenigsberg is a highly respected figure in the field of marketing. His roles at London Business School, coupled with his impactful research, make him a leading voice in marketing education and practice¹².

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 5/30/2024

(1) Oded Koenigsberg | London Business School. https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/k/koenigsberg-o.

(2) ‪Oded Koenigsberg‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TIw-UUgAAAAJ.

(3) Koenigsberg, Oded | SAGE Publications Inc. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/author/oded-koenigsberg.

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REFERENCES

“genioux facts”: The online program on "MASTERING THE BIG PICTURE OF THE DIGITAL AGE”, g-f(2)2445, Fernando Machuca and Claude, May 30, 2024, Genioux.com Corporation.

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