Stay ahead with customer value thinking.

When I worked for Mike Murphy, VP of Value Practice at Zscaler, we were working together on a huge deal that Mike had painstakingly prepared a business case for. At the time, our business cases were very manual and Mike had worked many hours with his champion to understand the project’s ROI. 

Marcel Eisma, Senior Director of Value Management at Proofpoint, a leader in cybersecurity solutions, is making huge strides with his changes to Proofpoint’s selling practices. Not only did Marcel introduce value management to Proofpoint, he is also working to develop new sales practices, incorporated with existing value methods.

SaaS business models have transformed the way the world looks at the sales process. What used to be a one-and-done, sign the deal, and ring the bell process has necessarily changed. Even for companies with tangible products like hardware, the sales relationship has thankfully evolved. Instead of a transactional perspective, today’s most successful organizations see sales as a relationship-driven process. Most importantly, it’s about forging long-term, mutually beneficial relationships, which has made the connection between sales and customer success even clearer.

It is one thing to sell to a prospective customer based on your company's value, but it’s a different challenge when you’re up against competition that is claiming to have the same benefits as you. 

Several months ago, Lindsey was working an 80 day sales cycle for a prospect that she felt confident about. Communication was flowing and everything seemed to be aligning perfectly. She was able to go right to the CRO at her prospect with a compelling value statement, which he was immediately responsive toward. They happened to be in growth mode and a 5% ACV would be huge for him. 

• 25% higher attach rates for early sales conversations 
• 50-80% higher close rates 
• Increased average contract value of 25-50% or more
• Double digit reduction in discounts 
• 30-50% impact on deal velocity 
• 50-70% reduction in new hire ramp-up times***

Do the above metrics sound like your current year and latest Quarter results? Or did your last Quarter end with, “We had 15 Qualified deals in the Quarter, we needed 5 to beat not only the Board plan but our internal stretch plan, but we only got 3 of them. While we had a good Quarter, we left business on the field as deals slipped or shrank...