Selling Your Value Proposition

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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