Last week our sales team was doing a demo of our software, RENDER, to someone whom we'll call an anglerfish. This demo was one of those textbook cases in the sales process where it was unclear if we were meeting with a key player or just a really nice person who could be engaging us into a middle school-like, arm's length slow dance.
I know for you sales and business development folks out there, this story isn't unfamiliar. The golden rule with a prospect is "qualify, qualify, qualify." And when your time is precious and resources are few, lead quality is the difference between a productive sales call and getting lured by an anglerfish. To cut to the chase in the sales process courtship, the leading question we should have asked upfront was, "What is your Value Proposition to your customers?"
For better or worse, every company has a Value Proposition--the actions and investments a company undertakes to provide customers what they value most and give them a reason to buy. However sometimes a company's value prop doesn't clearly communicate the benefits to customers...sometimes a company's value prop doesn't encompass what customers are asking for...sometimes a company's value prop is stale and hasn't been improving versus the next best alternative.
So back to the anglerfish. The answer to the question of what is your Value Proposition would have helped us understand whether or not this anglerfish had a pain point RENDER could solve. Luckily we were still able to figure out that defining, selling, or improving the company's Value Proposition was not one of her pain points. And rather than spinning our wheels with the wrong person, she has the influence to connect us to someone who owns value prop for the marketing organization....and has helped us get a next meeting with that person.
Understanding your Value Proposition gets to the heart of what Valkre does for companies. While most people think it is straightforward to communicate to customers, we here at Valkre argue that a strong Value Proposition requires more than some marketing copy. Instead, it requires rigorous defining, customer collaboration, and an organizational commitment to improving it if your company really wants to grow with customers.
Just a couple weeks ago, we hosted our 5th annual open house (which we called "Conversations + Cocktails"). The big draw of the night was the discussion panel, led by Valkre CEO Jerry Alderman, on the intersection of technology, marketing and sales in B2B.
Our Value Proposition, articulated by our customers in attendance, was clear and compelling: "Valkre has given us a means to measure, evaluate, and communicate value we create for customers and a system to sustain it." If you have questions about how Valkre can help your Value Proposition, leave us a comment below.
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