How Creating Value Gets You In–and Keeps You There

What would you say is the goal of buyers , purchasing agents, materials managers, or supply chain managers? The typical reply from most salespeople would probably be “to get the cheapest price.” And in many cases that’s true.

But we’re finding that, depending on the industry, more and more procurement professionals see their role as getting “the best value.” That’s good news for salespeople with the right skill set. Buyers looking for value see learning from vendors as fundamental to the process.

One of the greatest, unrecognized values  that salespeople can provide is an ability to probe for the “unknown unknowns” and discover whether prospects have issues they aren’t even aware of. But many obstacles can prevent salespeople from getting the chance to help. For example, some buyers:

• Think they already know what they need because of online research
• Rarely answer the phone or listen to voice mail
• Ignore e-mails except from sources they already know.

Those “reasons,” and others, get in the way of buyers looking to get the most value from their supply base. Put another way, buyers who at least allow themselves to go through a strong consultative sales process can discover whether they need to change the vendors they use, stay with what they have, or try a type of product or service they’ve never used before.

Recently, I moderated a panel discussion  about how the very best salespeople create value before making the sale. Entitled “What Every President, CEO, and Owner Must Know about the Sales Process,” the panel examined how “top producers” sell-that is, how they bring in 12 to 15 times more revenue than the average salesperson. Professional salespeople on the panel from banking, insurance, business development consulting, and executive-level financial staffing opened up about situations in which their prospects did participate in discovery and found tremendous value from the process.

Here are a few examples from that panel.

#1: Finding the Unknown Unknown.  One way to create value within the sales process, explained Lee Fahrenz, is to help  a prospect become aware of a problem he didn’t know existed -in other words, helping him to know what he didn’t know. Fahrenz’ firm, Euler Hermes North America, offers credit insurance.

Fahrenz was able to offer receivables insurance for nine of a new prospect’s key customers but not for the tenth. Confidentiality prevented him from providing details behind the denial. But the prospect drew his own conclusion that the customer was, or soon would be, in a “slow pay” mode with creditors due to financial issues. With that knowledge, Fahrenz’s prospect immediately got in touch with his customer’s CFO to set up a payment plan the customer could follow. Identifying an unrecognized problem-that a major customer was “uninsurable” in this context-clearly provided value during the sales process.

#2: What do you really need?  SALO’s Mitch Ornstein, whose company provides interim and project financial executive and staff services, offered another value:  Help a prospect articulate, even originate, the objectives she’s seeking.  Through your discovery, you help a prospect clarify objectives at both a higher level and in connection with your product or service.

A current client’s CFO was discussing corporate-level objectives. Eventually, SALO’s sales discovery process shifted the focus entirely by helping the client clarify a more pressing objective. Frustrating flaws in a financial management system had led two plant controllers to move on. The current controller had a handle on the issues; yet our client felt she might lose him too because other work kept getting in the way of resolving them. The discovery process offered a different perspective, and a critical objective emerged: Retaining this key employee. Such clarity enabled the SALO team to find the right executive to handle operations tasks until the controller got the financial system on track. Four years later Controller #3 is still on the job.

#3: So That’s Where New Products Come From.  One of our senior consultants, Scott Pemberton, shared how  identifying a need in the field without an existing solution and bringing it back as a new product idea helps companies grow the top line. To use salespeople as “market researchers,” however, requires a process that ensures they ask the right questions and assess identified needs realistically.

A client developed software to help a major drugstore chain identify interactions among prescriptions its pharmacists filled, especially negative interactions. The client’s salespeople then asked, as they were trained to do, “Is there any other way that the solution might help you?” Well, yes, was the answer. The chain’s customers were also taking medications provided by other pharmacies-its competitors, in fact. Could our client identify interactions in that context, too? The resulting new software product delivered value to our client, our client’s client, and to pharmacy customers themselves.

#4: More Than Meets the Eye.  Jeff Michalczyk, The Private Bank, discussed  helping a prospect become aware of the implication or consequences of a challenge.  Even if prospects are aware of a problem, they don’t always-in fact, rarely-appreciate the full impact of the consequences. Good consultative selling helps them see the devil in the details.

A middle-market CFO whose company sells its products globally believed that a large money-center bank would best serve his needs. Michalczyk and his team knew that middle-market companies and large money-center banks often aren’t good matches. The companies rarely have the necessary systems, processes, or people in place. In addition, this company required frequent and responsive communication with its bank. The CFO regarded delays in his current bank’s 1-800 line process only as simple “annoyances.”

During discovery, he called his controller and accounting manager in to get their thoughts. Michalczyk’s consultative sales process helped to reveal to the CFO how frustrated they were with long hold times, lower productivity, and customers unhappy with slow response. As a result, the CFO allowed outside experts to assess the full implications of working with a larger bank. Eventually, the CFO saw that a smaller, relationship-oriented bank with global capabilities was a better solution. The Private Bank gained a new client thanks, in large part, to sales ability that delivered value during the sales process.

The panel’s discussion framework  was based on our firm’s identification and development of “The 18 Ways to Create Value during the Sales Process.” Just call or email us for a free copy at  847-446-0008 or   pkrone@productivestrategies.com. If you’d like, we can also talk about how to learn whether your salespeople are delivering value during the sales process.

This panel was presented by The Entrepreneurship Institute (TEI). The panel members serve on the TEI Chicago board as does Tim Kramer, who hosted the workshop at Wintrust Commercial Bank, Rosemont, Illinois.