PROVE THE VALUE

Prove is the umbrella over the WIIFT steps, reminding us that we must consistently and systematically prove ourselves and the value of our solution in each conversation. Proving your value and that of your solution is not a onetime occurrence; value is assessed by your buyer throughout the entire relationship.

Value is a subjective aspect of selling anything. Whether you have a tangible product or a service, the real value of what you are selling is determined by your buyer—not by you or your marketing department. You do, though, play a major role in proving value to the buyer. Your ability to provide the right proof at the right time reduces pricing concerns, profit margin erosion, and the objections you need to work through.

Your Personal Value

The value your buyer receives also is attached to you! The actual value your buyers will associate with the solution begins with their experience with you. While many sales professionals talk about quality and value as the responsibility of “corporate,” product development, manufacturing, or marketing, every action you take, or don’t take, provides value to your buyers or it doesn’t.

For many years I represented a training solution in which quality was compromised because updates were released before they were ready and company leadership changed several times. During these transitions, many of my long-term clients told me the reason they continued to use the solution, despite its shortcomings, was because they wanted to work with me.

I didn’t truly understand the implications of this until I developed my own sales training course. While I was confident that I could sell it into new companies, I underestimated the value my current clients placed on working with me and the impact that made in their willingness to adopt the new course for themselves. In the first year, I was pleasantly surprised when several clients told me that if I believed the new course was going to provide the skill and behavior-changing value they needed, they were “in.”

One decision maker committed to implementing the new course with his international team without even seeing an outline of the materials. Another participated in an abbreviated preview of the course—her company’s sourcing protocol demanded it—but she assured me that she knew in advance that she was going to say yes, because she knew that if she worked with me she would not have to worry or manage the process as tightly. She trusted me.

Only after both agreements were signed did I consider the ease in making the transition to the new course. Here was firsthand experience of the power of the personal value I had provided for years.

For your career, pause and reflect on the extra value you have added to your solution and for your buyer. Whether you know it or not, this personal value may have led to rewards you were unaware of.

Each week I hear powerful stories from sellers about the extra value they deliver, such as:

• A four-hour, last-minute drive to troubleshoot a row crop issue.

• Visiting customers at their homes instead of having them come to the office.

• Sending prepaid envelopes to make it easy to return documents.

• Connecting the customer to another solution for other POWNs.

• Physically walking them to a specific product location within a store.

These may not seem extraordinary, but they mean a lot to the customer. Don’t underestimate the value you add to each sales conversation and to the buyer throughout the sales cycle.

Metrics Count in Proving Value

Though proof begins with you, it doesn’t end there. You need to prove the value of your solution and your company throughout the sales conversation and the relationship as well.

Proving the value of your solution is essential at each stage of the sales process and cycle. Keep in mind that value is in the eye of the buyer and is more powerful when it is:

• Relevant to the person and the particular situation.

• Timely throughout the sales conversation and as current as possible.

• Specific with measurable data and detail if necessary. Even if the measures are anecdotal or qualitative, the more specific they are, the more they will resonate with the buyer.

Identifying and documenting metrics was far from a priority for me when I was a Human Resource Executive (back then we were called Personnel) at a bank. However, Bill Koeper, a mentor of mine for many years, helped me better grasp how metrics count!

Bill was the marketing and sales executive back when I still wanted nothing to do with the sales profession. He guided me toward measuring and documenting successes in HR so that I could sell my personal value when it came to performance review and bonus time with the president. I told him I thought that was self-serving. He told me it was smart business and good human relations. He explained that if I didn’t keep track of my successes in a concrete way, the decision maker (in this case, the president) would not necessarily recall the value of what I had done all year.

Reluctantly, I agreed to begin this process of documenting value and I was pleasantly surprised with a larger bonus and salary increase that year. So I kept documenting for my own reference and used this proof of my value later in what was possibly one of the toughest sales challenges in my career.

My manager was a hard-driving, challenging taskmaster who determined much of the leadership team’s worth on face time in the office. He even randomly called our desks on Saturday mornings to see if we were putting in extra time.

Years later, when I wanted to work part time to spend more time with my growing family, you can imagine the likelihood of a win for me. This was the early 1990s, before professionals were given reduced work schedule or flextime options. My colleagues doubted I’d get approval, but Bill thought I could. With his guidance I developed a recommendation that incorporated my documented value from the previous two years. And it worked! I got the deal to work three days a week and to add a lower-salaried person to my staff to take on some of my responsibilities.

It was a personal win that I am still grateful for to this day. Not only was I spending more time with my children, something I can never replace, I was also able to care for my terminally ill mother. I closed a nontraditional sale that was a Win³ for my family, for me, and for the company.

Providing proof isn’t a “once-and-done” step. Too often I have seen sellers and sales teams provide great value, deliver their solution, and then move right on to a new solution with that customer. Whoa! They miss a great opportunity to review with the customer how the delivered solution tied into his or her POWNs and the benefit or value it provided.

Whether proving the value of our own personal efforts to internal personnel or to buyers, specific measurement is memorable and provides substance to the proof. Before you connect with any buyers, take the time to identify the value they will receive from you, your solution, and company. Maintain a list of data, testimonials, and successes that you can use throughout your relationship.

A productive sales conversation is more probable when you follow the WIIFT system steps, and support your conversations with proper Preparation and Proof. The next section of this book provides further details on the five steps of WIIFT, as well as tips and tools to further systematize your conversations and make every conversation count.