We’ve been working on this value topic because it is the single, most important aspect of any sales position. A company that lacks a value proposition is destined to stumble through the market while being commoditized on price. I saw this effect 6 years ago when doing sales calls in the field with a company’s reps. After spending a couple days in a couple different cities, it became clear that they had to value proposition to offer the market. This absence of value led to one consistent outcome – they had to compete on price. Granted, some companies are positioned to compete in this format. The company I was working… Read More
Continue ReadingDefining Value Today
BusinessWeek.com has an excerpt from a new book from C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan. They provide an interesting take on a topic we have been studying of late – value. Salespeople have to know their company’s value proposition in the market. That last part, in the market, is the key. We have seen plenty of companies who have an internal perception of their value, but some times it is not based in reality. Salespeople have to sort this problem out, which is an area in which we assist them. At any rate, these opening graphs caught my attention as they elucidate a value trend we are seeing in the marketplace… Read More
Continue ReadingKnow Your Value
I was meeting with a VP of Sales yesterday discussing the onramping program for the new salesperson we found for them. He brought up a good point in that his new salesperson was spending time researching their competition. Unfortunately, they are in a commoditized market with many – many – competitors. The VP told the salesperson that there are too many competitors to research since they do not have a specific, common competitor. This led to a discussion that I heard regarding federal authorities and counterfeit money (a common topic this morning). There are far too many counterfeiters with different techniques to know all of the scams. So instead, the… Read More
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