In this Value Coffee Talk podcast episode, Tom Pisello and David Caradona discuss how to achieve $100 million in growth using value selling and value enablement. The pair emphasize the importance of shifting from a product-focused approach to a value-focused approach, and the role of value engineering in driving this transformation.

The interview also highlights the significance of discovery and the case for change in uncovering customer value and aligning to it. The conversation explores the need to slow down and connect the dots between technical capabilities, use cases, and business outcomes. Additionally, they discuss the role of value engineers in small companies and the challenges of scaling sales enablement and automation.

Takeaways

• To achieve $100 million in growth, companies need to shift from a product-focused approach to a value-focused approach.
• Discovery and the case for change are crucial in uncovering customer value and aligning to it.
• Connecting the dots between technical capabilities, use cases, and business outcomes is essential in driving value.
• Value engineers in small companies play a crucial role in transforming the sales force and driving growth.
• Scaling sales enablement and automation requires leveraging existing resources and being scrappy.

Sound Bite

"You're coming in, it's likely that the organization has been successful in selling bottom-up, you know, like you say, product features, POC. And so now driving that transformation to flip that around to now start to sell value upfront rather than selling features is that pivot that needs to happen."

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Background

01:36 - The Transformation Role of Value Engineering in Small Companies

03:06 - Flipping from Product-Focused to Value-Focused

05:44 - The Importance of Discovery and the Case for Change

09:36 - Proving Value through Use Cases

12:09 - The Role of Value Engineers in Small Companies

14:50 - Scaling Sales Enablement and Automation in Small Companies

In this episode, our hosts Tom Pisello, April Morley, interview financial selling expert Dr. Stephen Timme, and sales enablement leader Sheevaun Thatcher to discuss the challenges that sales teams face in meeting customer expectations and delivering value and how to leverage a customer centric approach to improve engagements, build trust and instill decision confidence.

The pair of guests highlight the importance of understanding the customer's goals and strategies, as well as the need for personalized and insightful communication. The experts emphasize the need for sellers to move away from a feature-focused approach and instead focus on the customer's pain points and desired outcomes.

The discussion touches on the role of AI in sales outreach and the importance of building trust and confidence with buyers. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the importance of a customer-centric mindset and the need for sellers to listen, understand, and provide value to their customers.

• Understanding the customer's goals and strategies is crucial for delivering value.
• Sellers should move away from a feature-focused approach and focus on the customer's pain points and desired outcomes.
• AI can be a useful tool in sales outreach, but it should be used to enhance personalized and insightful communication.
• Building trust and confidence with buyers is essential for successful sales.
• A customer-centric mindset is key to meeting customer expectations and delivering value.

00:00 Introduction and Overview

03:04 The Importance of Customer-First Approach

05:17 The Limitations of AI in Sales Outreach

07:37 The Need for Trust and Confidence

09:45 Delivering Value through Discovery and Value Hypothesis

11:48 The Role of Marketing in Sales Enablement

15:07 Customer-Centric Account Planning

18:14 Understanding Customer Motivations

20:47 Opportunities in Building Buyer Confidence

23:56 Mitigating Risk and Making Informed Decisions

26:34 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

In this episode, Tom Pisello and April Morley discuss leveraging value capability and maturity assessments with special guests Justin Zacks and Saul Gerdes, co-founders of the value automation platform provider, Value Plan. The guests share their journey with value and the importance of speaking in customer language throughout the entire customer journey and how interactive assessments can help build this in a collaborative fashion.

In the conversation, the group emphasizes the need for a mutual value plan created with the customer and the importance of aligning stakeholders and gaining consensus. They also discuss the role of capability maturity assessments in marketing, BDR, sales, and customer success, and how these assessments can facilitate better discovery, consensus building, and value expansion. The episode concludes with advice on measuring and thinking about value from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

• Speaking in customer language is crucial throughout the entire customer journey.
• A mutual value plan created with the customer helps drive a two-way value-based conversation.
• Capability maturity assessments can facilitate better discovery, consensus building, and value expansion.
• Measuring value should consider both quantitative and qualitative aspects.

"Enterprise tech vendors are usually pretty bad at speaking in customer language."

"The vendor should have a point of view already on what's going on here and what the value is."

"A maturity assessment helps to reveal alignment or misalignment among stakeholders."

00:00 Introduction and Mission of the Podcast

03:47 Creating a Mutual Value Plan

06:17 The Role of Capability Maturity Assessments

09:13 Facilitating Alignment and Consensus

12:18 The Handoff to Customer Success

14:32 Collaboration on the Customer Value Lifecycle Assessment

17:11 Measuring and Thinking About Value

19:19 Closing Remarks and Call to Action