by Cindy Barnes
Salesforce 48
Schlitz Brewing Company 3
scientific management 173
scoping studies 143–44
scripted conversation (questionnaires) 13, 50, 53
scripts 166
2nd Law of Value Proposition Selling 7, 32, 50, 157
self-test
sales philosophy 126–28
value/sales proposition 105–06
selling (stage) 115–16, 120
selling consulting 167
selling culture 158
selling organization 158, 171–86
Semco 156, 177–78
semi-autonomous teams 174–75, 176
Semler, Ricardo 177, 178
senior executives (management) 12, 27, 55, 143, 159
see also board members; leadership behaviours; sales directors; sponsors; top management
service packages 46–47, 48
7th Law of Value Proposition Selling 7, 163–66, 185
Sharkey, Lyn 198–99
short-termism 3, 10, 14–15, 100, 161
siloed organizations 23, 25, 112, 149, 156, 173
simple processes 177
6th Law of Value Proposition Selling 7, 33, 162–63
skills 15, 85–86, 96–97, 167–68, 178
see also capabilities; good salesperson attributes
skunkworks 175
Sloan, Alfred P. 174
small businesses 111
small teams 174–75
Smith, Barry 198
snapshots 131
social media 2, 16, 39, 109
socio-political decision making 26, 72
Solution Gap, The 2, 69–70
solutions salespeople 124–25, 137, 142, 146–47, 148, 149
solutions suppliers 68, 69, 75, 87
Sonitus Systems 180–82
Southwest Airlines 183–84
specialist divisions 175
sponsors 60, 176
Spotify 179–80, 184
squads 179
staff see employees
stakeholders 4, 5, 10–11, 35, 36, 65
start-ups 178–82, 195–98
State of Employee Engagement (Edelman 2015) 12
stories (storytelling) 7, 129–53, 156, 164
strategy 3, 12, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 82, 93
stress 43
successful businesses, defined 40–42
summing up 135–38, 141–42
suppliers
commodity 25, 41, 81, 84, 85, 86, 96, 164
offer 84, 85, 91
solutions 68, 69, 75, 87
surveys 12, 50, 64, 187–91
suspects 108–09
sustainability 3–4, 10
systemic approach 2, 3–4
systems thinking approach 18–19
tactical changes (projects) 14, 17, 19, 21–24, 25, 43, 61, 99
team selling 125, 149, 150–51, 168
teams 16, 37, 60, 68, 76–77, 105, 106, 139, 177, 194
sales 22, 29, 34, 37, 86, 99, 106, 118, 147–48
semi-autonomous 174–75, 176
see also guilds; squads, tribes, chapters; team selling
technical businesses 19, 23, 41–42, 92, 148, 180–82
technology 1–2, 10, 14, 15–17, 78
see also cloud computing; computers (computerized systems); Dealer Track software; IT systems; Sonitus Systems; web (websites)
telecommunications industry 50, 52–54, 99–103
television commercials 130
10th Law of Value Proposition Selling 7, 169, 185
TEOCO 99
Thermodial 193–95
3rd Law of Value Proposition Selling 7, 158–59, 172
time limits 139–40
top management 37–38, 164
see also board members; leadership behaviours; sales directors; senior executives (management); sponsors
training programmes 19, 22, 23
see also coaching; role-plays
transactional selling (salespeople) 68, 69, 70, 85, 90–95, 111, 118, 123, 145–46, 167
mixed sales style 149, 164–65
questions 109
storytelling 134, 135
transition stage 118–21
transparency 16, 17
tribes 179–80
trust 46–47, 52, 69, 72, 75, 83, 112, 117
Twitter 2
Uber 14
UK 87–88
Unilever 3–4
up selling 23
US 16, 27
USS Palau 37
Valente, Lucia 195–98
value 37, 42–43, 67, 68, 69, 71, 203
value chain (telecomms) 100
value experience 59, 63–67, 70, 78
value hierarchy 59, 60, 70
value proposition, defined 32–33, 59
Value Proposition Blueprint™ 72–73
Value Proposition Builder™ 1, 3, 5, 6, 18–21, 24–25, 59–80, 82–83
Value Pyramid™ 6, 67–68, 76, 84–87
value vs cost 11–12
values 183–84
Virgin Atlantic 55
Visa International 175–76
vision (statements) 37–38, 40, 49–52, 72, 164, 183–84, 189, 190, 200–01
Wal-Mart 10
web (websites) 15–16, 48, 181
‘what’/‘why’ questions 64
whole organization approach 176
WL Gore & Associates 156, 176, 184
work–life balance 16
workplace stress 43
workshops 41, 74, 75, 133–34, 180, 187–91, 193–94, 201
Zappos 182
zoom in/zoom out technique 80
“We are living in the Age of the Customer. Selling Your Value Proposition provides leaders with fresh, insightful advice on how to drive the customer-centric business transformation our new world requires. The time has come for every employee to join the sales team, and Barnes, Blake and Howard provide a blueprint with powerful case studies to arm leaders with what they need to get started.A must-read for the transformational leader of the future.”
Cate Gutowski, VP, Commercial Digital Thread, GE Digital
“Must-read material for B2B CEOs, sales leaders and marketers intent on driving growth.”
Matthew Dixon, Group Leader, CEB, and co-author, The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer
“Packed with tried and tested tactics and dozens of examples from real organizations, this is an essential read for executives in large corporates or anyone who wants to be customer-centri (internal or external), innovate and stay ahead of the game.”
Simon Gale, Procurement Director, Sony Europe
“If we keep looking at our customers through the same lens, having the same conversations with them, telling them the same things, not properly hearing the answers, we wake up one day and we don’t understand each other any more – and worse, we have been replaced. This book wakes us up and gives us a new way to look at and think about our customers, and then transform the relationships that we have with them.”
Andy Head, Business Development Director, NATS
A value proposition is created from the combination of a company’s products and services and the value gained by the customer. It is used to drive better business and is essential to success for any organization; without it, companies are at risk of losing customers and being drowned out in crowded marketplaces.
Selling Your Value Proposition is a practical, user-friendly guide to establishing a streamlined, customer-centric selling process to communicate and express value propositions, enabling companies to convey their value-creating stories to customers consistently.
Featuring case studies and interviews with renowned business leaders and infl uencers, Selling Your Value Proposition demonstrates how value propositions adeptly position a business across a range of industries. The techniques and skills shared have all been honed through the authors’ experience with more than 600 companies around the world, and clear, step-by-step guidelines will empower all readers to e_
ectively focus their value propositions for competitive success.
Cindy Barnes is the founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Futurecurve. Her passion for genuine customer-centricity is transforming the operations and perspective of major organizations around the world.
Helen Blake is Chief Executive of Futurecurve. She is a business-winning expert and organizational psychologist who is a passionate advocate for generating better business through actively bringing the customer into business practice.
Tamara Howard helps international teams deliver on business goals. She has led sales teams at IBM, PA Consulting and Capgemini to achieve many successful multimillion pound deals.
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