After Thoughts: Sales Values
Sales Values
It began to become obvious that there were common threads running through the opportunities, the things that would be of most benefit to discuss in the coaching sessions and apply to our deals. These became what we called sales values.
I’d read a lot of books about selling and came across the idea of sales values in Elay Cohen’s Saleshood. I found the concept helpful while engaging in discussions and coaching based on the sorts of positive behaviours we were looking for. Sales values set out how we expected salespeople to operate. Sales values were the agent that bound together the qualities we’d sought out in salespeople and the sales process we were building too. Sales values helped us get good people to operate in a way that worked for our business. Sales management can become nothing more than a box-ticking exercise verifying the process steps have been followed. No one likes working that way, and especially salespeople. Coaching them on how to be successful in our business, with widely adopted ways of behaving that worked for our company, was valuable time spent, and we saw the results when engagements followed the paths set out in sales values.
Here are some sales values that make sense in a B2B sales environment.
“Expert confidence at what we do.
We sell to our strike zone with authority and deep customer empathy because we know product is a better fit than all the rest.”
“Do the hard work to make it an unfair fight.
Learn and share so we know our competition and how to beat them.”
“Join the dots and build your deal ecosystem.
Connect and be helpful across the tribe, our people, our customers, and our partners, so that we get the introductions and the knowledge to be powerful.”
“Show interest.
Use your ears and learn. Knowing what makes the customer ticks wins deals. Winning trust never stops. Be a safe pair of hands and add value.”
“Keep your deals moving.
Do the basics, keep up the activity, and ask yourself why an opportunity is stuck or slipping. Is it qualified? and Find out what don’t you know.?”
“Always keep earning the right to go up and across
the organisation. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and resources so that you can network upwards. Be lined up beside the decision maker when we’re asking for the business.”
“Walk the Halls.
Really get to know all the players. Have the best contact network in your account and build a coalition for success.
“Put fun in the middle of everything we do.
Your customers need to be engaged, relaxed, and up for the journey.”
“Show up with the right story
and sell a vision for a better future for your champion, your buyer, and their business. Let them glimpse how the future could be.”
“Better to find new prospects than to work on pipe dreams.
Don’t waste valuable time and money on deals with no ROI case. Qualifying out helps win other deals.”
“There is always more you can do in your existing base to upsell.
It’s cheaper and faster to sell to your base, so don’t ignore them.”
“Never leave a deal on the table.
Sell what the customer can buy right now. Selling a midsize deal every month is better than one big deal every quarter.”
Salespeople understand these aims and behaviours. Clear, unchanging values give a lens through which to evaluate each deal in your pipeline in ways that go beyond the process.
When sales do these things they earn the respect snd support internally to get the scarce time, attention and resources of the business on their deals ahead of others.