8 Fundamentals of Value-Based Selling That You Can't Afford to Miss

'People love to buy, but they hate to be sold.'

If you try to sell your price. You're screaming “salesy”. If prospects always feel like they are being sold, they will never buy, or worse, you'll lose a prospect for life. That's why switching your prospect's focal point from price to value is essential.

Now, It's clear that prospects always welcome value-based selling. Recently, value selling has gained popularity and continued to surge among sales teams.

So, the mission of this article is to give you all the access to the insight you are going to need to formulate your strategies around value-based selling in a simple way. 

What is value-based selling?

So without further ado, let's start with the basics, with a clear definition of value-based selling.

Value-based selling, value-added selling, or other consultative selling- refers to a sales technique that prioritizes benefitting the customer and fulfilling their needs. Pertains to guide your prospects in the sales process while pitching the product's value. That assists to serve higher ROI ( or more like a soft ROI approach), which builds trust and long-lasting, authentic customer relationships.

Value-based selling vs. solution-based selling - What are the differences? 

There are several types of selling, and value-based selling is one of them. However, the primary selling category that is being used interchangeably is solution-based selling. So, now it's imperative to define ultimate comparisons of these synonymous terms.

1. Approach
2. Primary Strategy
3. Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects
4. Negotiations

1. Approach

Mainly, the value selling methodology focuses on the product-led approach that helps to convince its price tag. While solution-based selling, as its name suggests, puts more emphasis a on problem-led sales approach and caters solutions to customers' pain points.

2. Primary Strategy 

The primary strategies of value-based prospecting include utilizing social proofs, testimonials, or referrals in your portfolio, which bring a maximum number of conversions. 

While with solution selling, the initial strategies mainly concentrate on building common ground with the prospect through your storytelling and resonating with their issues.

3. Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects

The third foremost comparison is the qualitative and quantitative aspects. Value selling prioritizes quantitative outcomes, or we can say calculable results. But, still, there is always a place of empathy in the sales process. In contrast, solution-based selling takes both aspects into account- qualitative and quantitative. 

4. Negotiations 

As value-focused selling operates with the concept of- the more you focus on your product's value, the less critical its price becomes. Also, value sellers work with a motive to bring elevated ROIs. So, it's not an easy task to negotiate the sale's value. On the other hand, solution-based selling focuses on the customer's adoption of products according to their needs, and hence they are more prone to negotiations while closing the sale.

If you're still finding a winner, let us notify you that there is 'No Winner.' Both strategies go hand in hand for the betterment of the customers, which should be the end goal of all sales reps.

8 Fundamentals on value-based selling that every sales professional must know

Here is the list of 8 fundamentals on value-based selling to make your sales decision-making process smooth and effective.

1. Research
2. Devise your Steps
3. Ultra Customized Approach
4. Don't Sell, But Educate
5. Respect their Time
6. Leverage Consultative Sales
7. Imitate Big Players
8. Add Value

1 . Research 

Researching is the first, and foremost among all the principles of value-based selling. Here, you can make or break your sales pitching. Always keep a track of your prospect's recent activities through their CEO interviews or podcast, their recent webinars, LinkedIn profiles, and their shared connections. With this, you can quickly identify their central problems and interests. And then present your product as a solution to their pain points.

2. Devise your Steps

Keep your plan devised in steps and slowly attract your prospects into your sales funnel deeper.

A heartwarming greeting is best to start a conversation as the first impression can be your last. Now increase prospects' engagement in conversation by asking them questions about their business with no short answers.

Let them know all the available solutions for their problems with facts, integrated case studies, and social proof. Then, pitch your product to your prospect, and tell them how your product can help them with their current problems, and reach their future goals.

3. Ultra Customized Approach

Aligning your product's value with the prospects' needs is the key to ultra customization. 

Always remember this. Value is a prospect's word, not a seller's word. So it's the prospect's decision if your product stands up to its standard value or not. The core value that seems attractive to you may not be equally valuable to your current prospects.

And then, it's your job to gather information about your prospect's interest and related value.

Ask them direct questions with no short answers about their problems with a few other questions like this:

"What is most important for you to go forward?"

To get better clarity of their vision.

To make your ultra-customization approach work, businesses can opt for speech analytics software like Salesken. It can simplify the customization process in the following way: 

• Extensive analysis of sales rep-prospect conversation to perform a quick lead scoring and identify the intent levels of prospects 

• Coaching your reps in real-time to help them understand the improvement areas and refine their sales pitch 

• Generation of an automated sales playbook that can come in handy for the entire sales team 

Want to know more? Book your demo now! 

4. Don't Sell, But Educate

If you're pitching your prospects with your aggressive sales techniques to make them buy. 

No doubt. Even God cannot help.

Pitch your customer like a subject matter expert with an educational approach, not like a sticky salesperson. Most of the time prospects know their problems but don't have clarity over the cause.

Help them point out those causes and the biggest fears that keep them up at night. It will not only increase prospects' trust in your brand but also will affect their buying decision admirably.

5. Respect their Time

Asking irrelevant questions to your prospects will make them feel like you're wasting their precious time and can be a big turn-off from the customers' side.

Always respect their time; if you have some questions pending still after the scheduled 30-minute meeting, then stop there and ask them if they have free time this week or later.

Prospects will feel valued and will surely build a positive attitude toward your brand. 

6. Leverage Consultative Sales

Devising a consultative approach to your sales deal implies holding a friendly informal discussion with your prospects full of two-sided questions and answers.

And, let prospects ask you too about your product. It is better than a one-sided barrage of sales questions. Open-ended questions are great, but many of them at the same time can divert your discussion in the wrong direction. 

Give them enough time to think after a question, and equip them with your guiding resources to expertly adapt your products to their businesses. 

And get set as a consultant for your product.

7. Imitate Big Players

Case Studies of big players in the same industry can immensely benefit your seeking problems. Those big and prosperous businesses must have faced the same problems as you once for sure when they were not used to being the big fish in the pond. 

Learn from their past mistakes and devise similar or better plans for your problems. Being a copycat doesn't mean copying them; it refers to understanding their working strategies, how they deal with a lot more clients than you, and why they are more successful than you.

Get a hint from their USPs and then formulate your own; unique enough that customers choose you over those big companies. 

8. Add Value

In the end, make sure to share value whenever you get the chance in your customer touchpoints. Help them to build a new perspective around the latest trends or implement your 'Ah moments' in your sales pitch.

Assist them in navigating between multiple alternatives in the market through sharing insightful resources like articles, white papers, studies conducted by your sales team, and much more. It will encourage them to deploy real action and will make your engagement more powerful and meaningful to both parties. Also, in exchange, you are setting yourself as a subject matter expert in your field.

The 4 Pillars of a value-based selling framework 

1. USP (Unique Selling Point)
2. Open Talks
3. Leverage Case Studies
4. Risk Aversions

The framework of value selling is constructed on these four pillars below:

1. USP (Unique Selling Point)

The fundamental value-based selling process revolves around the concept of USP. It is your differentiator, as it showcases the values which your competitors cannot provide.

"Why should a prospect choose you over your competitors?" The answer is your USP. Multifunctional can be good in other industries, but in SaaS, uniqueness is your crucial key. So make sure to optimize it successfully.

2. Open Talks

Open Talks are great for taking down prospects' formal guard and making more sense to the customer. 

Try to avoid closed-ended questions in your conversation as it breaks the conversation flow. Instead, asking open-ended value-selling questions incredibly elevates customers' participation in your conversations and lets you grab more info about them, which helps you decide your reply and response more effectively.

3. Leverage Case Studies

Displaying success stories of your precious customers who faced similar problems as your current prospects can increase their trust in your words.

Case Studies and social proofs with an individualized touch can do wonders. And, finally results push your potential customer directly into your sales funnel.

4. Risk Aversions

After questioning your prospects about the problems they face and the goals they want to achieve. You must have pointed out the greatest fear of prospects that they want to avoid at any cost. 

Get them certainty, and explain how your product is made to minimize all of their heftiest problems and worries in the best possible manner.

Final Words 

In short, pretend you are a doctor who approaches patients (prospects) by himself/herself and curates their problems by presenting your product as a curing pill.

Always, give your customer your mind and soul and more importantly, your Ear! Listen more while dealing with your prospects' problems.

After saying all this, it specifically boils down to a simple conclusion-

Make a Customer, Not a Sale! - Katherine Barchetti

You have to sell your product like you are doing this for the sake of the customer, for the well-being of your prospects, and not just with the simple aim of trading and exchanging.