With input from veteran value leader Scott Jeffries
Certain roles and groups within the organization need to undergo transformative shifts to meet the changing needs of customers and the organization itself. One such role experiencing a profound evolution is that of Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders.
Historically viewed as implementers, tasked with creating pre-sales business cases for customer deals, these leaders are now being called upon to assume a more strategic and holistic role as Value Orchestrators.
Drawing parallels to the transformation witnessed in Sales Enablement, where the focus shifted from content management and training tasks to strategic content and skills development and alignment across all commercial teams, the need for Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders to elevate their role has become increasingly apparent.
Those that recognize the need to shift to orchestration will realize opportunities and budget increases, while those who remain “doers” will see their stature and budgets slashed, despite great performances and putting up good numbers.
OG Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders
Value Consulting/Engineering emerged primarily to help create business case proposals for sellers. These consultative sales support resources were typically organized into a service desk for ROI, engaged on the most important deals with sellers, handling the business case much like the Systems Engineer handled the demos and fielded technical questions. Value leaders were responsible for scaling these value consulting groups, determining the rules on engagement, implementing tools and managing consistent service delivery.
As businesses are now faced with uncertain economic conditions and seek profitable growth, overhead roles like value consulting have come under pressure – to do much more with much less. This despite the superior win-rate and deal-size numbers these groups deliver when engaged, and the fact that customers need business value help more than ever. We’ve seen some of the best performers and benchmark groups get cut because the function was seen as a nice-to-have versus a strategic necessity.
As a value leader, in order to fight this trend,It is time to move beyond a pre-sale service desk mentality, and elevate to a role which orchestrates value across the organization and throughout the customer lifecycle.
From Do-ers to Orchestrators: A Parallel with Sales Enablement
The evolution of Value Consulting/Engineering mirrors the trajectory witnessed in Sales Enablement. Initially perceived as content managers and training facilitators, Sales Enablement professionals have transcended their traditional roles over the past decade to become strategic orchestrators of enablement initiatives spanning across all commercial functions. Similarly, Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders are now called upon to transition from mere do-ers and implementers to strategic orchestrators of value-focused initiatives.
The Strategic Imperative of Value Orchestration
Today’s buyers demand tangible value in order to justify initial purchases, renewals and expansions. The role of Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders has taken on heightened significance.
These Value Leaders are uniquely positioned to drive strategic alignment across sales, marketing, customer success, and product teams, ensuring that value creation efforts are integrated seamlessly throughout the organization.
By orchestrating cross-functional collaboration and leveraging data-driven insights, Value Leaders can maximize the impact of value initiatives and drive sustainable growth.
Key Value Orchestrator Capabilities
As Value Orchestrators, Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders need to elevate their capabilities, with the seven orchestrator traits:
- Strategic Alignment: Aligning value creation initiatives with overarching business objectives and commercial strategies.
- Comprehensive Charter: A proper charter can be the foundation to build the transition and gain support – https://geniusdrive.com/value-office-charter/
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Facilitating collaboration between sales, marketing, product, and customer success teams to ensure cohesive value delivery. Especially a focus on success and product, which is missing in most tactical practices.
- Data-Driven Insights: Leveraging data analytics and customer insights to inform value propositions and optimize value delivery processes, especially leveraging AI on a go-forward basis.
- Evangelism: promoting the Value best practices, content, programs and successes throughout the organization.
- Continuous Improvement: Implementing feedback loops and performance metrics to continuously measure and refine value creation strategies and drive continuous improvement.
- Thought Leadership: Serving as thought leaders within the organization, advocating for the importance of value-centric approaches and driving cultural change.
The Path Forward: Elevating the Role of Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders
To successfully transition from Value Do-ers to Orchestrators, Value Consulting/Engineering Leaders must embrace a strategic mindset and develop a comprehensive skill set that encompasses strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration, data analytics, and thought leadership.
As opposed to tactical doers, heads down in their spreadsheet models, tools and delivery details, by embracing their role as strategic orchestrators of value program initiatives, these leaders can drive meaningful impact and position their organizations for success in today’s competitive marketplace.
To help outline what is needed, to be a great orchestrator, we suggest that the first step is to think about value as a customer-lifecycle approach, leveraging the Value Lifecycle, and to measure your current state and roadmap priority improvements using the Value Lifecycle Assessment
- Value Lifecycle defined – https://geniusdrive.com/defining-the-value-lifecycle-a-comprehensive-approach/
- Value Lifecycle Assessment model – https://geniusdrive.com/unleashing-your-value-potential-the-value-lifecycle-assessment/
The Bottom-Line
As organizations continue to navigate an increasingly complex and competitive business landscape, the role of Value Consulting / Engineering Leaders has never been more critical.
Just as Sales Enablement has evolved to encompass a broader and more strategic scope, the time has come for Value Leaders to elevate their role from Value Doers, to embrace their full potential as Value Orchestrators.
By embracing their role as strategic orchestrators of value-focused initiatives, these Value Leaders can continue to grow value within the organization: driving cross-functional collaboration, maximizing the impact of value creation efforts, and ultimately driving ever more sustainable growth.
