As a marketing leader, you’re often expected to be the bridge between leadership, the market, and your salesforce.
Sometimes that task feels like trying to run a three-ring circus. We get it!
Trapeze artists aside, you have insights that can benefit your company in impactful ways. Like helping your sales team adopt a philosophy of selling on value, not price.
But what if you have unruly monkeys in your circus? What if you have multiple clowns who don’t work together? Let’s look at three ways you can enable your circus members…ahem, I mean sales team, to adopt value-based selling.
1. Leadership drives the philosophy
Leadership must believe in selling on value instead of price. This has to happen before you can expect any sales enablement initiatives to succeed.
That means the philosophy has to be baked into your organization’s overall strategy. It should be evident in your mission, vision, values, and standards.
Let’s assume you do have leadership support for selling on value instead of price. You can help them communicate the philosophy to your sales team. Make sure the message is loud and clear:
We sell on value, not price.
Everyone in the company should know and believe this. The playbooks you create have to reinforce it. Salespeople need to understand it from day one. If they don’t, get in touch for a better understanding of what we mean by value-based selling.
Remember: Your first target audience is your internal team.
2. You set the expectations with your market
Once the philosophy of selling on value is established in your organization, you have to convey it to your audience.
This is where positioning comes in — and where our Position X® framework comes in. Using it, you’ll know your positioning is:
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- Believable – Consider market perceptions. What’s your reputation?
- Ownable – Consider competitor positioning. Where’s the gap?
- Desirable – Consider market needs. What do customers want?
- Supportable – Consider product/service attributes. What’s true about your offering?
Your positioning needs to be four things: believable, ownable, desirable, and supportable.
The right positioning can help you set expectations when it comes to providing a value-based selling approach. If your positioning is value-based, your audience will provide the external pressure on your sales team to deliver on that expectation.
3. Your salesforce believes in it
For the sales team to sell on value, they must believe in the philosophy. As we’ve discussed in a previous blog post, you can help your salespeople understand why selling on value is better for them…better for the customer…and better for the business.
Got that down? Let’s level up.
Take the philosophy and make it actionable. Remember to have conversations with the sales team. Make it a dialogue — not a monologue. Ask them for feedback. Learn how situations play out on the front lines. Find out what keeps them from selling on value.
Then, using their language and feedback, apply the 4Cs of message strategy to create playbooks that get adopted.
Your sales reps will buy into materials they believe in.
Be the bridge
If you want your marketing efforts to move your business forward, embrace being the ringmaster.
Engage with leadership to communicate the company’s strategy of value-based selling. Ensure your audience’s expectations are aligned with what you’re offering. And build strong ties with the sales team by bringing the philosophy to life.
By leading the charge in these areas, you can create an effective sales enablement strategy. This will help your sales team sell on value, not just price. And your company will benefit from higher trust, better sales, and loyal customers.
Feeling less like a ringleader and more like a fire juggler? Let’s work together to ensure your playbooks and philosophy get adopted by your salesforce.
Related:
4 reasons marketing gets ignored by sales
Growth is not an option unless you have adoption