When it comes to B2B selling, buyers are increasingly risk-averse, often opting to stick with the status quo; 61% of potential deals fall through without any action. Moreover, the financial scrutiny on technology investments has intensified, with companies demanding clear evidence of ROI before committing to new solutions. As a result, recent Pavilion research reveals a startling figure: 70% of B2B sales professionals missed their sales targets.
However, there is a beacon of hope—value selling.
Our comprehensive study, conducted in collaboration with the Enterprise Value Collective, Genius Drive, and Cuvama, dives deep into this strategic selling approach, revealing not only its undeniable benefits but also the key factors that drive its successful adoption.
The Power of Value Selling for B2B Tech
Our research surveyed over 100 B2B technology companies to unpack the effects of value selling on their sales outcomes. Here’s what we found:
- Substantial Sales Performance Improvement: An overwhelming 96% of participants observed that salespeople who adhere to value selling outperform their counterparts who don’t. These value-focused professionals enjoyed a 48% improvement in win rates, a 35% increase in deal sizes, and a 25% reduction in the sales cycle length.
- Low Adoption, High Opportunity: Despite the clear advantages, only 19% of sales representatives consistently apply value selling strategies. This gap highlights a significant opportunity for companies to enhance their sales performance by promoting broader adoption.
According to GTM and value leader veteran Doug May, “Value Selling adoption continues to be a challenge for organizations who don’t commit to it as a foundational element of their end-to-end sales motion. When you have executive support, consistent enablement efforts, and the right supporting self-service tools, achieving adoption greater than 60% is more than possible. And when you do that, the sky is the limit. At Splunk and Databricks we delivered over 75% value selling adoption in sales along with win rate improvements of more than 5x.”
Three Pillars of Effective Value Selling Adoption
Our findings indicate that there is no “silver bullet” for achieving widespread adoption of value selling. Instead, success requires a well-coordinated effort across three crucial areas:
- People Support: Interaction with Business Value Engineering (BVE) teams has proven pivotal. However, scaling BVE resources effectively remains a challenge, particularly in larger teams.
- Value Enablement: Effective content and education, such as methodology training, value messaging, and discovery guides are instrumental. These enablement elements individually and collectively enhance adoption rates, with discovery guides showing the most significant impact.
- Automation and Tools: The use of Value Automation Platforms dramatically increases win rates by up to 52%, overshadowing the less effective spreadsheet-based ROI tools. These platforms facilitate a scalable approach to value selling, enabling sales teams to operate more independently from BVE teams and integrate value selling seamlessly into their processes.
Recommendations for Enhancing Value Selling Adoption
To counter these challenges and improve value selling adoption, we recommend the following strategies:
- Invest in Comprehensive Value Enablement: Ensure sales teams have access to the necessary tools, training, and support to implement value selling effectively.
- Optimize the Use of Value Automation Platforms: These should not only be intuitive for sales reps but also integrated throughout the sales process to help build compelling value propositions from the outset.
- Expand and Empower Business Value Engineering (BVE) Teams: Beyond just providing deal support, BVEs should act as coaches and evangelists for the value selling methodology, helping to embed it deeply within the sales culture.
Through an orchestrated approach, you can boost adoption substantially. And these efforts are more than worth the investment. For each 10% boost in adoption of value selling you can get a collateral 10% boost in revenue. Get all your sellers to value selling excellence and you could 2x your revenue. There are few, if any other GTM investments that have such a great ROI.
Ken Powell, veteran Chief Revenue Office (CRO) says it well: “In order to get value into more customer engagements, it takes a well orchestrated approach of specialist support, automation and enablement. Get it right and you can help customers build extreme confidence in the purchase, and significantly exceed your growth goals.”
The Bottom-Line
The evidence is clear: value selling markedly enhances B2B tech sales performance. Yet, the adoption rates remain low, presenting a substantial growth opportunity for businesses willing to invest in the right combination of support, tools, and training.
By focusing on these areas, companies can not only meet but exceed their sales targets, turning the challenges of today’s sales environment into profitable opportunities.
Interested in delving deeper into the transformative power of value selling? Download the full report from the Enterprise Value Collective, Genius Drive, and Cuvama, and view our on-demand webinar to see the results reveal and discussions live.
- Download the Full Research Report
- View the On-Demand Webinar
- Checkout the Press Release Announcement
