The number one complaint I hear from executives about their sales teams often sounds like this:
“Our salespeople aren’t selling value.”
When I dig deeper and ask what they mean, I usually hear about lost deals or heavy price discounting to win business.
But when I probe further—asking questions about the value that isn’t being sold—responses are often vague. Executives mention quality, performance, or reliability, but rarely can they specify that value in concrete terms. They struggle to describe it in a way that shows an investment with a measurable return.
This disconnect is critical because value is not about the products themselves. Value is about the results customers achieve from using those products. These results include increased revenue, higher profitability, time savings, and reduced waste.
The real differentiator between us and our competitors isn’t the product features or even price—it’s the measurable impact we deliver. Some competitors might offer lower prices, but they don’t provide the level of revenue growth, profit improvement, and efficiency gains that we can. That’s the true value we bring to the table, and it’s what our customers are actually buying.
Again, it’s not the hardware or software we sell—it’s the better business results our customers achieve by using them. Our job as sales professionals is to articulate that value clearly, in specific and relevant terms, because if we fail to do so, we lose the sale.
As Harvard Business School marketing professor Ted Levitt famously put it: “The customer doesn’t want a quarter-inch drill. The customer wants a quarter-inch hole.”
Before we can price or sell value, we need to define, specify, and quantify that value in terms of how our products contribute to our customers’ growth and profitability. This means framing our offer not as a set of features but as an investment that delivers tangible business outcomes.
Making the Value Tangible
Most customers are willing to buy and pay more if they believe they’ll get more value in return. But they’ll only see that value if we, as sellers, make it clear, compelling, and easy to understand. Here’s how we should communicate value:
• Compare the value we offer not only to the customer’s current situation but also to what a competitor might offer.
• Break down the value into measurable benefits that resonate with the customer’s financial goals.
• Use specific, quantified statements like: “For every dollar you invest in our solution, you’ll see a 5X return within two years.”
By doing this, we help customers’ executives and procurement teams justify paying a premium price for our products. Every customer wants to grow and become more profitable—our job is to show them exactly how we help them achieve that.
A Case in Point
A few years ago, I interviewed a former buyer from Applied Materials to get insights into how professional buyers think. When we discussed value, he told me:
“We’re willing to pay more for value, but you have to give us hard numbers to back up your claims. Don’t expect us to do the math for you, because we won’t.”
This insight is crucial. It’s not enough to talk about value in abstract terms. We need to provide hard data and quantifiable results.
When we can present numbers that demonstrate a clear return on investment—whether it’s improved margins, faster time-to-market, or reduced operational costs—customers feel more confident about buying from us. They have the justification they need, not just to purchase our products but to pay the prices we charge.
If you want your salespeople to sell more products and services at higher prices and profit, give them a tool that will help them do it.
For $5,000, I’ll work with you to create a Quantified Value Proposition.
Together we’ll specify the unique value you provide, quantify what that value is worth relative to your competitors, and write FAQ’s that will help your people prepare for sales conversations and handle the objections they’re likely to encounter.
Let me know if you’re interested.