The document tells the story of three salespeople - Joe, Sally, and Gary - and their approaches to selling tools to three prospects who need them for a building project. Joe focuses on demonstrating the tools but has to discount to make the sale. Sally asks questions to understand the project needs and bundles tools into a solution. Gary goes further by asking about the reasons behind the project and challenges the buyer's assumptions, resulting in a much larger sale that better meets the buyer's needs. The document advocates for a value selling approach that focuses on customer outcomes over just demonstrating products.

1. Copyright © 2012, Alinean Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Let Me Tell you a Story
In a land not too far away, in a time not so
long ago, a sales team learned that three
prospects were in immediate need of tools
for a critical building project.
It’s been some time since such an oppor-
tunity has been available, and the sales
team springs into action.
Meet Joe, Sally and Gary,
the intrepid sales team.
2

3. Joe Springs Into Action …
Joe, one of the more forward sales reps, is able to quickly get a meeting with the first prospect. After nice introductions, knowing the
prospect needs tools for his building project, Joe doesn’t waste time and immediately takes the tools from his sample bag and with
a cacophony of action, begins demonstrating how his tools are superior:
his saw at cutting wood his wire cutters at
cutting wire
his hammer at
hammering nails
his trowel at
spreading concrete
3

4. … To Hammer a Deal Home
The prospect likes the demonstration, and
immediately wants to purchase the wire
cutters, but demands a discount, as wire
cutters can certainly be purchased for less
at the hardware store.
Salesperson Joe doesn’t have much argu-
ment for that, so acquiesces, providing
a 20% discount to get the deal. Without
haste, the customer starts building and
Joe returns to the office to do the “I got
deal dance”.
4

5. Sally Takes Her Turn …
Sally, the next salesperson, gets an appointment
with the second prospect soon after. Rather
than jumping right into the demonstration, Sally
knows she needs more information about the
building project in order to recommend the
right set of tools.
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6. … Asks the Right Questions …
She asks the prospect what they need to build,
and the prospect describes their need for
shelter.
Instead of just selling one tool, Sally follows
marketing’s advice and bundles the tools
together into a building solution so that
the prospect has all of what they need.
The buyer sees the benefit of not having
to piece together the toolkit to serve his
needs.
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7. … And Nails A Solution Sale
Sally gets the deal, and hardly has to discount to get there. The customer gets busy with
building his shelter, and upon returning to the office, Joe’s reception is rather cold know-
ing he has been bested by Sally and her solutions approach.
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8. Gary Moves Beyond What to Why …
Gary, the last salesperson, meets with the
final prospect. Like Sally, Gary is eager to
learn about the prospect’s building project.
Upon hearing they need to build a shelter,
however, Gary doesn’t stop there with his
questions. He doesn’t just want to know
what the buyer wants to build, but why he
wants to build it.
Does he need shelter from the rain, from
the cold, or something more? He knows
that sometimes buyers might have issues,
but don’t understand the priority / urgency
of various factors, or worse, have not real-
ized they have other issues that might be
even more urgent to address.
The prospect tells Gary that indeed, he
needs to build a sturdy structure to pro-
tect from the cold temps just around the
corner.
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9. … Challenges the Buyer
But Gary, with provocative research facts from marketing, politely challenges that a house
often means much more. Gary communicates the latest security figures, and how build-
ing a lesser home might leave the buyer vulnerable. Gary compares and contrasts the
costs of various shelters, and how often the more expensive approach yields lower total
cost of ownership and better value in the long term.
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10. … Plays to Left (Logical) and Right (Emotional) Brain
And the story Gary weaves is not all facts and figures, because he knows buyers use
their entire minds to make a purchase, relying not just on the logical, but the emotional.
Tugging on the buyer’s heartstrings
Gary implores that this house must
be built right, for it will remain in the
family now, and for generations to
come.
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11. … And Sells the Desired Outcome
The prospect lights up with the vision Gary painted, the fiscal sense it all makes, and the
urgency the better alternative commands. Gary is not just able to sell the tools, but much
needed design-build services, so the prospect is not just enabled to address the shelter
opportunity, but on a turnkey basis can get the house they really need. Gary returns
to the office with a deal 30 times larger than Sally and Joe, and a trip to winner’s circle
in the bag. Better yet, the customer gets just the right house to provide the protection
they need.
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12. Value Selling – Everyone Wins
Grabbing coffee in the office a month later,
the sales team is startled by the front page
of the local paper.
There on the cover are the three customers.
A picture of the first in front of a house of
straw, a picture of the second with a house
of sticks, and a picture of the third, with his
design-build house of bricks. The head-
line: Big Bad Wolf Rampage Destroys Two
Homes, Two Pigs Narrowly Escape Death.
A product, solution or value selling approach– the three little pigs teach us that the latter
is not only better for your sales revenue, but better for your customers as well!
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13. Value Selling & Marketing
13

14. Buyers Have Fundamentally & Permanently Changed
Meet Buyer Frugalnomicus
The methods of five years ago won’t work any longer
because your buyers have fundamentally and perma-
nently changed.
Frugalnomics is in full effect, with your buyers:
• More EMPOWERED with information about op-
portunities, solutions, products / pricing and
the competition … as a result, your buyers
are firmly in control of the buying lifecycle, and
inviting sales later into the decision making
• More OVERLOADED, forced to do more with
less as a result of cutbacks, with less time than
ever to uncover issues, explore opportunities
and drive towards purchasing your solution
• More SKEPTICAL of your claims and traditional
sales and marketing pitches
• More FRUGAL, demanding quantifiable proof of
bottom-line impact on your proposals; want-
ing to be sure each decision is delivering the
lowest price / best value possible
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15. Evolve to Value Focus to Fight Frugalnomics
Your buyers require a new more value-focused sales and marketing approach.
Product Selling Solution Selling Value Selling
Back in the day, when the vendor was in This advanced from a product to a more But with today’s buyer, these approaches
control, you could walk in with a traditional solutions-oriented approach, where prod- are not effective. In many cases your over-
product approach – presenting on the lat- ucts were bundled into solution sets and loaded buyer might not be aware that the
est features and functions of your solution. aimed at solving a specific set of customer pain you are addressing exists. For these
It was up to the buyer to figure out how to problems. The sales person engaged by buyers, diagnosis is key – to uncover the
best apply your product to solve their busi- asking the buyer what their pain was; what issues your buyer didn’t know about, and
ness problem, and determine the outcome / was keeping them up at night. help them prioritize the pains they already
value that could be derived. knew they had.
And if they know the pain, your buyer of-
ten has already researched the solutions
and competitors and is beyond the tradi-
tional product / solution approach, instead
needing more consultative information on
potential outcomes, risks, investment re-
quirements, and a business case.
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16. Value Focus a Requirement, But Gaps Exist
When we look to see how many salespeople have advanced to a value-focused
approach, we find that a serious gap exists.
✔ They are gunuinely interested in partnering with us to make sure our initiative is successfull 6% Outcome
✔ They try to understand our challenges and offer suggestions, even if they don’t sell the product/solution 6% Consultative
– They are legitimately interested in trying to help us understand how their solutions can help 20% True Solution
✘ They only want to tell me about their products/services 27% Transactional
✘ They listen for a keyword or two so they can give me a prepared pitch 41% Buzz Word Solution
According to Forrester, 68% still use an A mere 20% have advanced to a true so- More is needed to help evolve your sales
outdated product selling approach, focus- lution selling approach, while a scant 6% and marketing to meet the new buyer chal-
ing right away on a traditional products / have actually advanced to the most effec- lenge and fight Frugalnomics.
services pitch, or paying lip service to the tive value (outcome) focused approach.
buyer by asking a few questions before
launching into a standard canned presen-
tation.
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17. Your Buyer’s Journey is Complex
Your buyer follows a series of steps to arrive at a “YES” decision.
The journey represents a complex change management process, which just won’t happen unless it’s facilitated.
Discovery Consideration Decision
Understand the Issues & Commit to Prioritize Possible Solutions & Justify the Decision & Make the
Changing the Status-Quo Commit to an Approach Solution Selection
Why Change? Why Now? Why Your Solution?
Your buyers need to be convinced that the Your buyers need to commit to change and Your buyers’ procurement teams must reach
status-quo should change, and that the prioritize the project. Once the buyer has consensus on a particular proposal, and
change is worth it. In today’s do-more- committed to the change, the decision gain selection approval from the many
with-less environment, most organizations makers need to research possible solu- stakeholders involved in the decision mak-
are doing all they can to keep the lights on. tion approaches and create a short-list of ing process. Finance in particular now
In such a stressed environment, your buy- specific providers. During this phase it is demands economic justification and is
ers might be feeling pain, but not have the difficult for your buyers to wade through heavily involved in the final vendor selec-
resources to address the issues. After all, the copious amounts of research and mar- tion process, providing more price pres-
for most organizations it is easier and less keting materials to understand the various sure and financial diligence requirements.
risky to do nothing, than to change. advantages that each solution approach
might provide.
Your Opportunity Your Opportunity Your Opportunity
The opportunity for your sales and market- The opportunity for your sales and market- The opportunity for your sales and market-
ing teams during the Discovery phase is ing teams during the Consideration phase ing teams during the Decision phase is to
to spark innovation and change, and help is to help your buyers understand the value provide a detailed ROI analysis, CFO ready
with issue diagnosis and prioritization. of specific solution sets and compare and business case, and competitive total cost
contrast different competitive approaches. of ownership / value comparison.
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18. Engage Earlier & Consistently to Facilitate Your Buyer’s Journey
Discovery Consideration Decision
Understand the Issues & Commit to Prioritize Possible Solutions & Justify the Decision & Make the
Changing the Status-Quo Commit to an Approach Solution Selection
Why Change? Why Now? Why Your Solution?
65% 35%
Of Decisions Won / Lost Based Of Decisions Won / Lost on Bake-Off
on Who Helped Establish Need
Examining the first phase of your buyer’s journey, during Discov- In the later bake-off phases, during Consideration and Decision,
ery when the vision for the project is defined, most buyers are Forrester indicates that 35% of vendor selection decisions are
researching options on their own, and do not involve sales in the made, making it more important to get connected and engaged
process. However, it is during this early phase that your buyers in earlier phases. However, many of your deals get stalled by a
establish strong provider preferences, with Forrester indicating failure to overcome objections and drive consensus during this
that 65% of vendors who create the buying vision during these early phase, making it vital to effectively address.
phases of the journey, end up getting the deal. For many solution
providers, lack of engagement means a “failure to launch”, miss- All Phases of The Journey are Important
ing out on the deal entirely, or playing catch-up the entire way. So in the end, all phases of the journey are important. However,
we find that most marketing and sales efforts are aimed at later
stages, with gaps in early engagement methods and tools.
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19. Interactive Sales & Marketing Tools to Facilitate
Tools map across your buyer’s journey to facilitate each stage
These tools can be used by your sales
Interactive White Papers professionals, in interactive workshops, to
Help your buyers get a personalized assessment of their opportunities provide diagnosis, analysis, justification,
differentiation and consultative advice –
helping to drive a value-focused approach.
As well, the tools can be made customer
Benefit Estimators
facing, to help provide your prospects with
Estimate for your buyers the cost of doing nothing and the value of change
direct access to completely personalized
decision making analysis and guidance.
Diagnostic Assessments
Get into more detail with your buyers about what ails them, conducting a
diagnosis to help identify new issues, prioritize opportunities and recommend
relevant solutions
ROI Analysis
Create the business case justification for your proposed solutions
TCO Comparison
Don’t lose the deal on price, instead you can elevate the discussion to differenti-
ate total cost of ownership (TCO) and incremental value
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20. Next Steps
The Overview Optimize your Content to Fight Frugalnomics
Value Marketing
The Solutions Value Selling
The Proof The ROI of Alinean Value Sales and Marketing Tools
Resources & Fight Frugalnomics Resource Center
Insight Ask the ROI Guy Resource Center
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