Wilson Selling To Value 18

Selling to Value
The New Standard for Sales Discovery

By Michael Leimbach, Ph.D., and David Yesford, Wilson Learning
Table of Contents
4 | How a Sale Was Lost 18 | The Art of Asking
the Next Question
6 | Traditional Discovery
20 | Practicing the Art and
Science of Discovery
8 | Discovery for Selling to Value
22 | About the Authors
10 | The Intention of the Salesperson
23 | About Wilson Learning
14 | The Science of Value Creation
Selling to Value: The New Standard for Sales Discovery | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 |3
© Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc. All rights reserved.
How a Sale Was Lost
Ann was not happy as she left ABC Company’s salesperson

the meeting with a long-term sold value.
customer—now a former customer.
The Selling to Value approach
“Ann, we have done business together requires the salesperson to
for a long time,” her customer develop an ever-expanding
started, “but we have decided to go mindset and skill set—and it requires
in a different direction this time.” a commitment to a purpose that
Selling to Value (S2V) =
Her customer went on to say how goes beyond self-interest to include
an approach to selling focused
ABC Company, one of Ann’s biggest both the interests of the individual
on aligning your offering to the
competitors, worked with them to customer and the interests of that
business value it creates for
integrate ABC Company’s solution customer’s organization.
the customer
into their own systems, resulting in
faster inventory turns with fewer
shipping errors. And they were able
to demonstrate how this will increase
margins and profit for the company.
4 | Selling to Value: The New Standard for Sales Discovery | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937
Focus on Discovery
Selling to Value (S2V) needs to be

considered in all aspects of the sales
process: prospecting, qualifying,
contacting, discovering, proposing,
and closing a sales opportunity.
But S2V has the greatest impact on
how a salesperson discovers needs.
Discovering needs is at the very heart
of the Selling to Value relationship.
When done correctly, it has a profound
effect on customers’ understanding
of their business and where they can
generate growth.
Traditional Discovery
On the surface, there is nothing

wrong with traditional needs-based
discovery; millions of salespeople use it
Differentiation Through Discovery
successfully every day. Unfortunately,
since almost every salesperson
Traditional Discovery Selling to Value Discovery
follows this process, your product gets
compared to competitors’ products, • Gather info 0n needs • Gather info on value-creation activities
feature by feature. This makes it
• Ask fact questions • Ask fact- and feeling-finding questions
extremely difficult for the customer
to distinguish amongst competing • Match product • Match product capabilities to
solutions. While a traditional discovery features to needs value-creation actions
process is necessary, it is not sufficient. Outcome Outcome
Traditional needs discovery ignores • Address a need • Create new value

additional sources of value that can be
brought into consideration. At its core,
S2V is a thorough consideration of how
the customer’s organization creates
value for its customers.
“ 94% of buying executives indicate that
they want salespeople to engage them in
a business impact discussion—but those
same executives indicate that only
19% of salespeople are effective
in this regard.”*
* Rochelle, M. (2011). Essential Selling Competencies: The Buyer’s Side Perspective [Brandon Hall Group]
Discovery for Selling to Value
The Problem Customer Perception of Salesperson’s Agenda
In a recent study of buying

executives, 94% indicated that they 20%
Customer-
want salespeople to engage them in
Focused
a business impact discussion—but 18%
Product
those same executives indicated that features
only 19% of salespeople are effective and benefits
in this regard.*
80%
Sales- 31%
Competing Value Agendas 7% Focused How product
Partnership to solves business
The problem is that customers grow my business problem
and salespeople often have different 13%
agendas for a call. Customers observe Understand
challenges, offer help
that 80% of salespeople focus on 31%
value for the seller and only 20% Listen for
key words to
of salespeople focus on value for launch pitch
the customer.
Source: Global Executive Buyer Insight Online Survey
This gap between what buying
executives want and what they get
is driven by three critical elements:
the intention of the salesperson, the
science of creating value, and the art
of asking the next question.
Keys to S2V Discovery
The Art of Asking

the Next Question
The Science
of Creating Value
The Intention
of the Salesperson
The Intention
of the Salesperson
When salespeople first start out, Sales Energy Pyramid

Create
their energy is focused on Maintain— When we are creating, we’re
using our energy to connect
earning a commission, guarding
with new kinds of situations.
against competitors, and making it to
the next quarter. As they mature into Create Problem
Solve
traditional selling roles, their focus When we are problem
shifts to Problem Solve—selling to solving, we are using our
Problem energy to focus on an activity,
the customer’s needs. S2V requires e.g. the sales process.
Solve
a different intent, the intent to
Create—advancing the customer’s Maintain
When we are maintaining,
business and creating value. S2V
we are using our energy to
requires salespeople to expand their Maintain hold on, defend, and guard.
role beyond just finding and solving
problems to truly wanting to see their
customer’s business flourish and grow.
Salespeople, by their own report,

experience different levels of energy
associated with their sales activities. © Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc.
When salespeople are focused on
making the sale and achieving their
quota, their energy is internally
focused and fixed on self-protection.
However, when focused on advancing
the customer’s business, they report
that they feel more focused and fully
engaged in the moment. They are free
of fear and second-guessing.
Exploring enriching ways to advance

the customer’s business performance,
in partnership with the customer,
creates new energy for creativity
and innovation.
Selling to Value: The New Standard for Sales Discovery | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 11
Are You in the Create Mindset?
Relaxed
Free-flowing energy, not conflicting
with anything else
Present
Fully aware of the immediate surroundings
and the here-and-now moment
Focused
Engaged, involved, and attentive to detail
Secure
Self-accepting—absence of fear, insecurity,
seeing your personal worth as being at stake or
on the line, feeling compelled to prove something
“ The value produced by the customer
organization is always best understood
from the perspective of the market, its
customers, and its competitors.”
Selling to Value: 3 Keys to Discovery | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 13

Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc. All rights reserved.
The Science of Value Creation
Business Needs Identification
With this clear “Create” mindset,
advancing the customer’s business
requires salespeople to:
Strategy
0M
ove beyond solving problems
toward exploring how to advance
the customer’s business
0E
xpand the conversation to
include the value-creation
activities of the business
The value-creation activities are

Market defined by what we call the Business
Needs Identification approach. This
approach provides an organizing
structure that guides the exploration
People Structure of how the customer organization
Business Metrics
creates value. There are five major
elements.
© Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc.
1 | Marketing 2 | Strategy
Conversations with customers begin The conversation about market
by exploring the market in which the forces flows naturally into an
customer organization competes. exploration of how the customer
The value produced by the customer organization’s strategy addresses their
organization is always best understood market and produces a competitive
from the perspective of the market, its advantage. Questions about their
customers, and its competitors. source of competitive advantage
S2V involves exploring market trends and their Critical Success Factors
and helping the customer organization (CSFs) dominate S2V discussions to
exploit opportunities that arise from determine their long-term goals and
a growing market or minimize the resource allocation.
effects of a contracting market. Questions to Ask the Customer
Questions to Ask the Customer 0 What are the major obstacles to
0 How do you compete in the market? achieving your strategy?
0 How established is your 0 How well does your initiative align

brand identity? with the company’s objectives?
0 What are your goals? 0 What are your CSFs for this initiative?
3 | Structure 4 | People
The customer organization’s There is a reason payroll is the single
strategy cannot be implemented largest business expense: people
unless the organization’s structure drive the business forward. Efforts to
is aligned to execute that strategy. implement a new strategy require the
With a solid picture of market engagement, not just cooperation, of
conditions and current strategy in the people in the organization.
place, the conversation easily flows
into a discussion of the customer Questions to Ask the Customer
organization’s ability to execute 0 Do you have access to the needed
the strategy. skills/talents?
Questions to Ask the Customer 0 Are people aligned on the value/

importance of the initiative?
0 What other departments are
affected by this initiative? 0 How will this affect engagement?
0 Do you have the necessary

resources to carry out your plans?
0 Who else can give you insight?
5 | Business Metrics
Underlying all the other components
are the customer’s business
metrics. Knowing what metrics are
most important for the customer
organization helps you understand
how they measure and track their own
value production and how they will
track the performance of your solution.
S2V requires salespeople to become
fluent in the way customers talk about
and measure their own success.
Questions to Ask the Customer

0 How does the organization measure
success of the strategy?
0 How will you assess the success of
the initiative?
The Art of Asking the Next Question
A new salesperson recently lamented: Business professionals love to talk

“I don’t know what happened. I went about their work. They are excited to
on a joint call with Sam (company’s participate in a conversation about
top salesperson) and wrote down the issues that keep them up at night.
every question he asked. But when They can become deeply engaged
I tried using them, it didn’t work; when they feel they are learning
the client ended the meeting early.” something new or are exploring new
possibilities for producing more value
Sam understood the art of the next for their customers.
question; the new salesperson didn’t.
When a salesperson, in conversation
The S2V discovery is much more than with a customer, offers his or her full
a list of questions. It is, first of all, a experience and expertise in service to
demonstration of the salesperson’s the customer’s organization, and allows
intense and compassionate curiosity the discovery process to dig deeply
about the customer and the ability into the concerns of the customer,
to let customers lead the discovery something special happens. Important
process, not the salesperson. information is shared, cooperation and
trust strengthen, and new possibilities
are created and explored.
Customers are looking for something more
than an explanation of features; they are
looking for a new perspective on how best
to move their business forward.
Practicing the Art
and Science of Discovery
In the past, there was a world in

Advancing Value Discovery which the customer had limited
access to product information, and
From Traditional To Selling to Value a simple needs-based approach
Ask questions to get An equal dialogue between to selling worked fine for both the
the customer to say salesperson and customer, salesperson and the customer. Today,
something that creating a vision that
leads to your pitch defines the customer’s the customer has already shopped
desired situation extensively before agreeing to meet
with a salesperson. Customers are
looking for something more than
Simply responding to Mindset (intent) an explanation of features; they
stated needs offers Knowledge set are looking for insight and a new
no differentiation
Skill set perspective on market trends and
competitive positioning to move
their business forward.
Sales organizations need to develop 0 New knowledge by exploring
an approach to selling that adapts how the customer’s business runs
to the way their customers want to 0 New skills to follow the customer’s
make purchasing decisions and, at lead to the next question
the same time, delivers value.
Customers increasingly expect selling

organizations to use and sell to value.
This move from a problem-

centered approach to a business-
centered approach may seem
easy, but it requires three things:
0 A mindset change that places

the customer’s business ahead
of your own
About the Authors
Michael Leimbach, Ph.D. David Yesford

Michael Leimbach, Ph.D., is Vice President of Global David Yesford is Senior Vice President of Wilson Learning
Research and Development for Wilson Learning Worldwide. Worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience
With more than 25 years in the field, Dr. Leimbach provides developing and implementing human performance
leadership for researching and designing Wilson Learning’s improvement solutions around the globe, Mr. Yesford
diagnostic, learning, and performance improvement brings valuable experience, strategic direction, and global
capabilities. He has managed major research studies in perspective to his work. He has held strategic roles in Wilson
sales, leadership, and organizational effectiveness, and has Learning’s core content areas of sales and leadership, as
developed Wilson Learning’s impact evaluation capability well as e-learning and strategic consulting. Mr. Yesford is the
and ROI models. He has served as a research consultant for contributing author of several books and has been published
global clients, is Editor-in-Chief of the ADHR journal, and in business publications around the world. He frequently
serves on the ISO Technical Committee on Quality Standards speaks at international engagements, focusing on sales,
for Learning Service Providers. Dr. Leimbach is a published leadership, employee and customer engagement, brand,
author and frequent speaker at global conferences. and strategy implementation.
About Wilson Learning
Our work with thousands of Our broad-reaching capabilities include: 0 Bringing our implementation “know-
organizations has taught us that every how, can-do, and will-do” expertise
organization is uniquely shaped by its 0 Providing learning services that to every learning initiative to fully
history, culture, mission, values, lore, help address human performance engage key stakeholders and provide
leadership, and, ultimately, its people. needs, including performance transformational learning that is
Every organization has a pulse. consulting, instructional design, recognized, reinforced, and sustained
customization, and flexible delivery
For 50 years, Wilson Learning has of learning solutions using every 0 Employing our global presence to
partnered with organizations around available modality meet your needs for consistent
the world to consult on, assess, learning solutions around the world,
design, develop, deliver, reinforce, 0 Leveraging the wellspring of our ensuring local and cultural adaptation
and sustain learning solutions, fueled Intellectual Property to produce while working in over 50 countries
by our passion and vision for “Helping double-digit percentage performance and 30 languages
People and Organizations Achieve improvement in salesforces,
Performance with Fulfillment.” workforces, and leadership ranks

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Selling to Value

The New Standard for Sales Discovery

Ann was not happy as she left ABC Company’s salesperson

Selling to Value (S2V) needs to be

On the surface, there is nothing

Traditional needs discovery ignores • Address a need • Create new value

The Problem Customer Perception of Salesperson’s Agenda

In a recent study of buying

Keys to S2V Discovery

The Art of Asking

When salespeople first start out, Sales Energy Pyramid

Salespeople, by their own report,

Exploring enriching ways to advance

Selling to Value: 3 Keys to Discovery | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 13

The value-creation activities are

0 How established is your 0 How well does your initiative align

Questions to Ask the Customer 0 Are people aligned on the value/

0 Do you have the necessary

Questions to Ask the Customer

A new salesperson recently lamented: Business professionals love to talk

In the past, there was a world in

Customers increasingly expect selling

This move from a problem-

0 A mindset change that places

Michael Leimbach, Ph.D. David Yesford

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Traditional needs discovery ignores • Address a need • Create new value

0 How established is your 0 How well does your initiative align

Questions to Ask the Customer 0 Are people aligned on the value/

0 Do you have the necessary

0 A mindset change that places