Solution Selling Blog

The Case for Buyer-Aligned Value Models…Part 3 of 4

2010-03-16T12:00:12Z

An overwhelming majority of marketing organizations adopt the Hybrid Value Model when they decide to support a solution oriented sales strategy. The hybrid model combines both buyer-aligned and seller-aligned perspectives and it supports high level problem-solution messages along with more tactical and explicit feature-function messages.

The Case for Buyer-Aligned Value Models…Part 2 of 4

2010-03-12T13:00:20Z

The Strategic Importance of Value Models: Whether you sell a commodity product or a complex business solution, a value model is the foundation for your positioning and messaging strategy because it determines how you communicate the purpose, value, and differentiation of your products and services. Like the product-feature-function model, value models provide the taxonomy for collecting, organizing, and sharing the marketing and selling knowledge that drives the three critical marketing deliverables that I mentioned in the introduction.

The Case for Buyer-Aligned Value Models…Part 1 of 4

2010-03-10T13:00:39Z

The pressure on B-to-B product marketing organizations to increase their strategic relevance and their impact on sales has never been greater. They have to quickly find a way to: Create more customer relevant positing and content; Do a better job of generating, cultivating, and nurturing leads; Improve their alignment with sales and deliver tools that enable salespeople to have more meaningful business and value conversations with their customers…

2010 Sales Trends Are In – Change the Way You Sell or Get Left Behind

2010-02-23T13:00:29Z

In annual research by CSO Insights and co-sponsored by Sales Performance International, the key trends analysis for 2010 contains some unsettling data. The 2010 Sales Performance Optimization study incorporated participation by 2,800 global firms ranging from small businesses to the largest global companies. Overall, the results reflected the difficult economic situation encountered in 2009. Key findings in the study include:

Recurring Revenue within Existing Accounts vs. Acquiring New Customers

2010-01-20T13:00:17Z

We have all heard of - and many of us follow - the supposition that selling to existing customers is easier and a more cost effective way to generate revenue and thus a great way to grow business. Based on a recent observation I would like to offer a contradictory theory to this widely held perspective.

Overcoming Buyer Risk in Major Purchases

2010-01-14T13:00:05Z

The risk associated with making a major purchase is not a new emotion to buying and selling, however, it appears to have taken on more significance given the current economic conditions.The first step in overcoming buyer risk is…

Sales Kickoffs - How to Keep them Motivated All Year

2010-01-11T13:00:07Z

We all hope our 2010 Kickoffs will get our team motivated and provide them with new information to help them increase sales for the New Year ahead. The problem is that more often than not that excitement doesn’t last.

Want to exceed revenue targets without adding headcount? Focus on seller productivity.

2009-12-30T13:00:59Z

Sales productivity consists of two components; utilization and effectiveness. The utilization level of a sales person is reflective of how much time the seller devotes to sales activities as opposed to ‘non sales’ activities.

Solution Selling Cartoon: Make Yourself Equal Before You Make Yourself Different

2009-12-18T13:00:38Z

This is what happens when you don’t participate in the customer’s vision of a solution first, before you try to re-engineer to a better solution that features your unique capabilities…

You can find more tidbits of Solution Selling wisdom like this in the Solution Selling Fieldbook.

Debunking 5 Myths About Virtual Sales Training (A 5 Part Series), part 5

2009-12-04T13:00:39Z

While the face of virtual training will evolve, don’t let some of the common myths and misconceptions that exist in the marketplace today hinder you in developing your own learning or engaging in learning with companies such as Sales Performance International.