Thursday, April 20th, 2023
Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad 9.2 2023
The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include four themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and behavioural studies. Sales performance Salesperson…
Tuesday, February 14th, 2023
Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad 9.1 2023
The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include four themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, behavioural studies, and systems and tools….
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
Value-pricing: 12 key points for implementing strategy
Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies, edited by Andreas Hinterhuber and Todd C Snelgrove, is the definitive book on value selling. To celebrate the publication of the second edition we have interpreted some of the main points in one of the key chapters of the book: “Quantifying your value so customers are willing and able to pay for…
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
Understanding true value
Engage buyers using the basics of value-based selling. We all know the frightening stats: buyers spend 17% of their time interacting with sales professionals, and nearly half (43%) prefer a completely rep-free experience (Gartner). Yes, this is alarming. However, this roadblock is just that, a roadblock – it’s not impassable. After all, the buying journey is complex and contains numerous…
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
What is value?
Exploring the changing face of value in B2B sales. It seems as if the phrase “sell on value, not on price” must have been around since shortly after the dawn of B2B selling, and it would be hard to argue with the sentiment. But what do we actually mean by value, and perhaps more importantly, how do our customers perceive…
Friday, February 26th, 2021
Here’s what’s changing
The key issues for B2B sales leaders in 2021. 2020 proved to be a challenging year for many B2B sales organisations. Certain sectors powered ahead (for example, anything associated with e-commerce or digital transformation) but many other industries suffered significant declines in demand. 2021 will inevitably bring further challenges. Whilst the emergence of effective vaccines offers some hope for recovery,…
Friday, November 6th, 2020
What’s your customer’s unique value story?
Do you have compelling answers to three crucial customer questions: why change, why you, why now? Generic value propositions, while they might be of some use in persuading potential prospects to make initial contact with you as a potential vendor, aren’t very helpful when it comes to setting your customer’s expectations about the specific value that they will derive from…
Thursday, May 28th, 2020
2020 Q1 Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad
The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include three themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and sales behavioural studies. Sales Performance…
Thursday, May 28th, 2020
Sales leaders’ top 10 wish list
What are the top sales leadership priorities for the coming months? What are sales leaders looking to accomplish? What would they do if money were no object? To find out, the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research surveyed 423 sales, enablement, and company leaders. Respondents were asked about the importance of 16 different potential priorities and asked the $64,000 question:…
Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
Selling in a sea of sameness
When your competitors are floating in a sea of sameness you need to make sure you are waving not drowning. In the second of a series of articles in which Dr Simon Kelly and Dr Paul Johnston explore customer value and differentiation, they are joined by co-author Stacey Danheiser to ask: are you selling in a sea of sameness? In…
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
Winning customers in an age of digital transformation
When companies embark on a digital transformation journey, they undertake a challenging quest for new business models, as they seek to leverage digital innovations to generate value for their customers and to differentiate from their competition. SAP’s Digital Elite Programme enables its salespeople to pitch a digital journey that is a perfect fit for their customers. The digital revolution is…
Thursday, March 21st, 2019
Transitioning from sales training to sales education
As part of a wider professionalisation of the sales function, forward-looking companies are discovering the benefits of sales education as a way to equip their people to thrive in today’s complex and challenging business environment. Today’s business landscape is challenging in multiple ways: it’s super competitive; technology is forcing us to deal with change and adapt our go-to-market models at…
Thursday, March 21st, 2019
Putting the value in value propositions
This is the first of a series of articles in which the authors explore customer value and differentiation. In this article Dr Simon Kelly and Dr Paul Johnston consider the importance of customer value and its criticality in building effective value propositions. They draw together their experience as marketing and sales practitioners, their recent academic and commercial research, and their…
Tuesday, December 18th, 2018
Value propositions: the sales and marketing interface
I reviewed two areas of literature before doing the research which covered sales-marketing interface (SMI) and value propositions. Sales-marketing interface SMI literature primarily focused on “The extent to which activities carried out by the two are supportive of each other” (Rouzies, et al. 2005). SMI research has tended to focus on sales and marketing relations as an end in itself….
Monday, November 20th, 2017
Is your organisation leaking value?
The spiral of value leakage starts when organisations fail to focus on the customer and what they value. Instead, businesses should focus on creating “infinite value”. Peter Drucker is famous for making the following observation: “Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two (and only two) basic functions: marketing and innovation.” If…
Friday, September 22nd, 2017
The starting point of successful propositions
Introduction As Product Marketing Director of Sony Mobile my daily work entails the creation of propositions for consumers and business customers in Europe based on propositions that are created mainly in Tokyo headquarters. I decided to research how the propositions can be improved and my focus is on the starting point of proposition creation. The aim of this research is…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Infinite Value – Accelerating Profitable Growth Through Value-based Selling
Mark Davies During the recessionary period of 2008-9, many organizations followed a business model that was ill-suited to long-term prosperity and strong profits, instead focusing on cost-cutting initiatives in order to survive. Post-recession, there is more optimism around investment, but changing from an entrenched cost-focused strategy can prove to be challenging. Infinite Value offers a value-based business model approach, which…
Sunday, April 23rd, 2017
How to sell value to a CEO
Selling value is essential to today’s sales professional. We speak to President of Capmatic, Alioscia Bassani to uncover his tried-and-tested techniques for selling value to the C-suite. This sales process uncovers the CEO’s critical business needs and develops value solutions that address the long-term business challenges of concern to senior executives. Ask Alioscia Bassani what business he’s in and his…
Saturday, April 22nd, 2017
Filling the value vacuum
The precise proportions vary a little depending on which researcher you listen to, but the general conclusion is remarkably consistent: the majority of meetings with salespeople generate little meaningful value for the potential customer. They often turn out to be a complete waste of their time. A big part of the explanation can be found in studies which conclude that…
Wednesday, November 30th, 2016
So, why didn’t we win?
The truth may hurt, but being a good loser is a key strategy for future success. Business has been using client feedback to sharpen performance since the year dot and Loss Reviews have long been part of the competitive sales cycle. But the process fell out of favour with many corporates because the information it provided wasn’t valued – why…
