How to be Value Ready with Bruce Scheer and Mike Wilkinson

Bruce Scheer: Welcome to the ValuePros Show where value pros get value ready. Hi. My name is Bruce Scheer. In this episode, I'll be wearing 2 hats, both as your host and as a guest. We'll be exploring a very comprehensive framework for value readiness that we developed along with the value pros cofounders, our affiliates, and a ton of market research. I'm meeting with Mike Wilkinson, a very seasoned value training expert and author of several value based selling books. Mike had a major influence in shaping this value readiness framework and the readiness assessment we have launched. You can access the assessment in our resources tab off of valuepros.io.

Bruce Scheer: We'll cover everything from building trust, understanding needs, delivering insights, and driving execution in the quest of helping your buyers buy from you. Now Mike's superpower is making the complex simple and actionable, and that's why thousands of sellers he's impacted absolutely love him. You'll see why in just a few seconds. So get ready to level up your value game. Let's dive in. Mike, welcome. This is gonna be such a great episode. I'm really excited to talk about how do we be value ready, and we're gonna explore so much about this new framework that we have, the value dimensions themselves, and how do we really up our game at being value ready? Why do we want to be value ready? What's in it for for everyone in terms of trying to turn that corner and be value ready? So there's a couple of fun, hot off the press statistics that I have a 2024 survey that was done by Genius Drive.

Bruce Scheer: When you're selling based on business value, taking on different value strategies, you can expect a 48% improvement in your close rate or your win rate. That's one of the bigger numbers I've seen in terms of really moving the dial because you're deploying value strategies. Secondly, you can crease your deal sizes by 35%. Can you imagine, Mike, just selling based on value and selling 35% more than what your colleagues might be doing who are not deploying value selling strategies. And then finally, a 25% reduction in the sales cycle. The amount of time that you're spending back and forth and through that buying journey, especially around complex solutions, that can be a long time. And when you reduce that by 25%, that gives you that much more time to go win more and to win bigger deals against those other statistics. This is a huge performance improvement when you move towards value and business value.

Bruce Scheer: Mike, how does that resonate with you?

Mike Wilkinson: The economists say the figures are absolutely extraordinary, aren't they? And you you have to ask yourself, women wouldn't want to be enjoying that sort of level of success. And I think the thing that's strange is that if you think about what they need to do to be able to do that, it's not a major step forward. There's some transformational elements

Bruce Scheer: in the way in which they need to approach the sale. But I think it's on the whole, it's a lot easier than people might imagine. It is when you've got the content, the tools, the training, the skills that make that happen. It doesn't mean that, hey. You just flip a switch and everybody's doing that. It it does take some work, and that's probably why there's a pretty humbling stat in there, Mike, that we didn't cover. Only 19% of sellers might be deploying value based selling strategies, and that's roughly 1 out of 5 would be able to get that type of benefit.

Mike Wilkinson: You've you've gotta ask yourself the question why though, haven't you? Why only 19% of people do that? What is it that's stopping them enjoying all the benefits that you just outlined that apparently are within their grasp according to the research?

Bruce Scheer: Absolutely. Well, I would contend you're not born knowing this stuff. You're not born with ROI tools, etcetera, in your in your belt. And there's a lot of mechanisms that need to be put into play, what we call value enablement to make that possible. Absolutely. And that's where we've created this value ready framework, etcetera. But, Mike, one other thing I wanted to highlight, just just emotionally, when you move from being a sales rep to a value professional, hence the reason for our firm, life just gets better financially. And then also just the art, of this beautiful profession of sales just improves dramatically when you're able to show up with value and sell based on value and help your buyer buy based on value.

Bruce Scheer: Just everybody wins, and and life is just easier and more wonderful for everybody involved. We'll push into this. I mean, buyer expectations are are woefully under met these days in terms of sellers showing up that way and what they expect, but we'll we'll dig into it. There's just a huge upside, both financially, emotionally, and just as a professional, big upside for selling based on value.

Mike Wilkinson: Yeah. I think sometimes we miss out on that emotional bit. Just wanting to feel so much better about the quality of the job that I'm doing. If you like, the value that I bring into the relationship that I have with my clients. It's just it's so as you said, the word is right. It's so much more fun doing it right, and it takes just the same amount of time. In fact, probably less.

Bruce Scheer: All those conversations and everything that would go by the wayside because you're just being that much more efficient and effective. It's awesome. So let's turn the corner and start talking about how to be value ready. How do how do we get there Through dialogues with experts, tons of research, what we've done is we've put together the the first readiness assessment, and it's built around this framework, Mike. And the framework, of course, follows a buying journey. There's 4 key phases in this framework where sellers need to be value ready and then associated value readiness dimensions. So the first phase is build trust. And in that phase, we're earning the right effectively to engage with buyers and start to have those value based conversations.

Bruce Scheer: The second phase is understand needs. That's where we dig into those conversations and really explore and define units of value, figuring that out with our buyers where we get agreement and start to explore all that. The 3rd phase is deliver insights. In this phase, what we're doing is helping buyers connect the value dot so they can buy. But we need to do that through insight, show them things that they haven't seen before and those potential areas of value that buyer's gonna realize when they change their approach and when they adopt a new solution that enables that approach. And that's where we deliver insights in that phase, show them how. And then finally, drive execution. In this day and age, there's so many different buyers, different people that need to be on the bus.

Bruce Scheer: Many of them are business stakeholders, so they're only gonna be the direct beneficiary of that solution. It's gonna make their life more wonderful and and improve business performance for them. But there's other people that need to be on the bus as well, finance, procurement, etcetera. We need to get everybody on that buying bus as part of driving driving execution. We need to negotiate, especially some of the bigger deals, and finally drive that impact and making sure that the customer is realizing the value promise and where we're measuring for that, and we get an opportunity to swing backs with them so we can sell more and more often with a a beautiful client relationship. So, Mike, those are the Yeah. 4 key phases. What you and I will do is kinda break down each one.

Bruce Scheer: You all take the first one. You'll take the second and third, and I'll take the 4th, and we'll break down the readiness dimensions that really drive value readiness across each one of these phases. But anything you'd say, Mike, before we move forward? You start off, Bruce,

Mike Wilkinson: I think quite quite sensibly with building trust. And I think we all know that without trust, we are completely lost. So that I see there there are 3 component elements of that. Why don't you just take me through how you see that?

Bruce Scheer: There are 3 critical value dimensions that that help you build trust with that buyer. And, again, we're just trying to get that buyer to wanna take a meeting with us, to listen to us, engage with us. That's that's what we're doing as we think about building trust. So the first one of those is credibility ready, client ready is the second readiness dimension, and then the third is narrative ready. So I'll do a a quick flyover of these 3, Mike, and then we could talk about it a little bit. So for credibility ready, that's where we're trying to cultivate an identity as a valued trusted adviser with enhanced executive charisma, both online and offline. So the value professional, are we professional in our appearance? And also, are we client centric versus self centric? Is our LinkedIn profile, file, is that a resume so I can get my next sales job? Or is that a very client centric profile that helps them see initial value and and pique their interest and wanna talk to to me? So that's LinkedIn side showing up in web meetings as a professional. Just everything around you, all the context, is that managed well at an executive level.

Bruce Scheer: So that executive you wanna talk to, they're willing to talk to you. Since the pandemic where all the executives, they'd rather talk by phone versus email, The world has fundamentally shifted. Everybody wants to show up online. So and man, oh, man. So many people don't realize how it's hurting them when they don't show up correctly there. So that's what credibility is, though. Just making sure you're credible.

Mike Wilkinson: You are right. I think people really do need to take a step back and just have a look at how they appear when they show up on an online call. Because I I I don't know about you, Bruce. I certainly deal with people, and you look at their office, the way they're dressed, and you think, that's me. What kind of an impression is that creating?

Bruce Scheer: You you're not born knowing these things. They they could be taught and and applied and and to to better result. But but that's one of the key areas here that should be a focus is how credibility you are. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. What what rating would you give you on your own credibility? Next, Mike, is client readiness here as a value dimension. Are you client ready? And so what this means is understanding industry trends, pressures, and internal challenges that your solution and you're you're speaking the language of the business and the functional areas you're targeting. So that that's absolutely critical. Yeah.

Bruce Scheer: And I like to think of client readiness is respecting the person you're meeting with. You've got the basic context where they don't have to kinda dig in. You become an insider. One expert I love in the sales world says that, hey. You start working for that client before they become a client. You do your research just getting necessary context for when you do your outreach. You're credible. You're you're in their world. You're talking their language. That's what client readiness is all about.

Mike Wilkinson: The way I look at it, Bruce, is that you wouldn't show up for a job interview without having done some background research. The last thing you need is for the interviewer to turn to you and say, well, tell me about my business. And you say, well, nothing really. I'd hope you tell me. That that really doesn't create the sort of impression you're trying to create.

Bruce Scheer: Some proof on impressions not going well. Here's a a stat by, Zypia that I'd highlight. 82% of b to b buyers complain that sales professionals are unprepared. It's another just hard hitting stat, very compelling stat, but 62% want salespeople to demonstrate experience with and knowledge of their business. The buying side of the house, they see it, they realize it, and they're probably offended by it, but are we doing the necessary homework to show up client ready? That that's the big point. Respect that buyer and and making sure you're ready to hit the ground running with them. The third one in building trust is what we call narrative ready. And in this, you're able to show up and deliver a tailored insight rich sales narrative with a distinct value focused viewpoint where the buyer is the hero.

Bruce Scheer: This is probably one of the biggest key levers of just setting the stage, answering the question, why are you here? Why are we even having the discussion in the first place? When you have a great narrative, that sets the stage for all the subsequent buying conversations that you're gonna be having.

Mike Wilkinson: As you've just pointed out, Bruce, it answers the question for the buyer, why should I talk to you? Why should I be investing my valuable time in having a conversation with you if you don't know why you're here?

Bruce Scheer: I've got another statistic to share, Mike, that 45.6% of b to b buyers wanna hear new ideas at the start of a selling conversation. So, yeah, you you built some trust. You showed up with Digital Charisma. You did your client ready. You've done your outreach communications. That first dialogue, that's where you need to share some insight. That means highlighting something they didn't realize, maybe a complete blind spot, or they didn't understand the magnitude of the problem or the opportunity, but you're helping them see something they haven't seen before. This narrative needs to be insight infused to to make sure things go well and get things off in the right footing.

Bruce Scheer: And then it becomes semantic through all these different selling conversations.

Mike Wilkinson: I think the only the only caveat I would put aside that is there is a danger of launching straight into a presentation of your solution before you've even started to understand what the particular customer's issues are. And I do I have seen that happen. So you go with that initial value proposition and launch straight into a solution to a problem that hasn't been identified.

Bruce Scheer: You can't make too many assumptions there. That's for sure. But you do need that overarching canvas to to make sure that Absolutely. Off. So that just takes us through the the three value readiness dimensions around building trust, credibility ready, client ready, and narrative ready. Those 3 key components really drive this whole notion of building trust, getting you into the game. So, Mike, what we could do next is talk about where we are in this particular journey. Why don't we push into understanding needs and then the two dimensions around that?

Mike Wilkinson: I'm sure nobody is going to be wildly surprised that one of the key steps on the journey is understanding needs. And I think every salesperson will tell you that they they do it, but every buyer you talk to tells you that it's not done as well as it should be. And all the research I see tells me that. So making sure not only that we understand these, but that we're talking to the right people for me is all about being buyer ready. Buyer ready is about being ready for each of the individual people that we need to see. And, again, as we mentioned earlier on, there's no real excuse generally for not being so. There's so much information out there on the Internet for you to be able to look at and understand each of the motivations of many of the buyers that we're seeing. 76% of b to b buyers expect personalized attention from solution by providers based on their specific needs.

Mike Wilkinson: The upside from our point of view is our ability to identify the people who are going to make the difference as we go through the sales process. I think the one personal group of people that we do need to be talking to when we're selling value are the people who are gonna benefit the most from the value that we deliver, because they are going to be the people who will effectively champion our cause inside the organization and and help us to navigate the complexities of that that organization. But I think in terms of being buyer ready, it's about being able to have a conversation that has value for the customer and for the client. And I think my favorite quote, at the moment comes from Forrester, a piece of Forrester Research some time ago where they had a verbatim quote in a report from a senior buyer who said that only 12% of the meetings they have with sellers has any value. And that suggests to me that 88% of other salespeople were not buyer ready in any sense at all. So, yeah, buyer ready is hugely important. Now if we move on and then take a look at being discovery ready, so this is about making sure that we actually go through that process of value discovery. And for me, the value discovery part of the conversation we have with with customers is absolutely the driving focus.

Mike Wilkinson: This is where the selling takes place as the customer sells themselves through their answers to your well crafted questions. So the better the quality of the question that you ask, the better information you will get. And for me, the the the secret to that success is being genuinely interested and genuinely curious about the buyer and their business. It's about asking questions because you want to, not because somebody has told you that is what you should do. And when you when you're looking at that, that is how you've become one of the rare salespeople who are delivering for the customer that personalized b to c like customer experience that they're looking for because you're actually showing a genuine interest in them as a person.

Bruce Scheer: I love what you had to say there, Mike, about being buyer ready, identifying who who are the right buyers and and thinking through what are their objectives, challenges, how can we connect with them even better as we move into this whole value discovery that that you so eloquently teach on. I just love your work in this area, but showing up premeditating, what are the right questions to ask at the right time to who and just getting your head around that, showing your credibility and and and your desire to to help them find new value based on the questions that you ask, questions that they would appreciate being asked. That's just huge in in helping them identifying these these points of values.

Mike Wilkinson: It all goes back to the comments you were making about that that initial trust and credibility. Without that trust and credibility, the the buyer will not feel comfortable answering the kinds of questions you need to ask them to really understand what the issues and the challenges are that they're facing. So the whole thing is completely linked together. You cannot have one without the other. You can't launch into to doing value discovery if the customer has no trust or credibility in you.

Bruce Scheer: Too true. Well, hey, Mike. Let's move on to the next phase here. Take take it away.

Mike Wilkinson: Okay. So once we have a clear understanding of what the customer needs are, and I would add a recognition of the urgency that they attach to actually addressing those needs, then we can move on to delivering the insights of making sure that we are indeed demonstration ready. And this is all about as it says that showcasing our solutions linked to our discovery findings. And the key point there is that what we are proposing needs to resonate with the customer. They need to see a direct link between the needs that we've they have shared with us, the pains, the challenges, the issues, and the solution that we're going to bring to bear. And, again, buyers are 5 times more likely to engage with salespeople who do impart new insights about their business, which means that we do have an educational role in the conversation that we have with our clients. So once the demonstration is in place, then we have to justify the solution that we're bringing to them. And in terms of justification, I think there are a number of things going on there.

Mike Wilkinson: But before we actually deliver any more trading later on, I would simply make the point that one of the most important measures for me is the cost of inaction, the cost of doing nothing. There's a lot of focus on ROI, but in terms of generating urgency, urgency, COI is what really makes the difference. And Bruce and I were ready we're talking a little moment ago about this stat. 78% of b to b buyers unhappy with a complete lack of case studies or examples that sales reps can show them. I have a piece of research from 2013 showing exactly the same numbers, which implies that things really haven't changed a lot in the last 10 to 12 years, which is a bit of a concern,

Bruce Scheer: I Bruce. Yeah. Big concern, big upside. I was speaking to a head of procurement for Levi Strauss the other day, former head of procurement, and he was saying it was the rare seller that would come in and talk about their hurdle rate, their internal rate of return that they'd have to win in order to win a deal. And, again, just that rare breed that would ask the question, try to understand that, and then also link the solution value to that. Just making things easy so the buyer can buy at the end of the day, making things easier. Yeah. So it's the rare breed, but, again, just a huge opportunity to show up justification ready, having done your homework, all the discovery, all the demonstration, and able to recast all that into value justification.

Bruce Scheer: It's a huge differentiator for as part of this airline experience.

Mike Wilkinson: I was about to say that's exactly what I was about to say. One of the biggest differentiators in sales is you.

Bruce Scheer: Yep. Definitely. And and one of the key factors. So, yeah, it's a big opportunity here, Mike. Really well stated. So I'd probably say let's move on to the the 4th area here, and that's drive execution. So from a high level perspective, Mike, that that has 3 different readiness dimensions. It's approval ready, negotiation ready, and then impact ready.

Bruce Scheer: So all of these are so critical, but let me highlight the first one here, approval ready. So what this means is just aligning with procurement, finance or effectively any stakeholder that's part of that buying unit or buying team. Anybody that might not be a direct beneficiary of of the business impact and change in operations, etcetera. But they've got fiduciary duty. They got compliance duty. They they need to make sure that this change that's underway and the investment really makes sense. And this is where the ball gets dropped so often, not including these stakeholders early in that buying journey, making sure you understand their needs, their requirements, and conforming to them, especially with the procurement function. Those those folks are so busy, you don't comply to what they need to see in a contract, etcetera.

Bruce Scheer: It just spirals things out of bounds, and and very often, you'll get a no no deal as a result of that. That that cost of inaction will stay in place because you didn't do a good job helping get things approval ready with legal and IT, everybody, making sure everybody's ready to sign on the dotted line or at least give their nod of approval that that deal can go through. And a stat that I've got to share in a survey of more than 250 b to b customers, 77% of them related their purchase experience is extremely complex and difficult. And I would argue, I'd contend that a lot of that's because you didn't show up approval ready. You didn't get everybody aligned. You didn't understand requirements perfectly, and and therefore, it was a charge of the mud for people.

Mike Wilkinson: Putting hurdles in the way that shouldn't be there.

Bruce Scheer: Yeah. Just not having everybody's endorsement. The next key dimension, Mike, I'd say is negotiation ready. And this one is effectively conducting value based negotiations, trade offs, and contracts. But the the key thing to think about and and the biggest problem I see just time and time again across clients I've served is reps not being comfortable in negotiation and and where you're defaulting to a zero sum game or especially the dreaded price discounting that happens so often where when you're negotiation ready, you don't really have to go there necessarily. You can talk about sharing value and creating value and your slice of that value in relation to what the customer is going to receive. And very often when that's done right, when you're negotiation ready, it takes a lot of pressure off the negotiation. Makes it so much easier, including everybody involved, when it's value driven versus price driven.

Bruce Scheer: Then the final one, Mike, is impact ready. This is another area where typically the ball gets dropped. Now that the sales mentality is, hey. I got a customer. The contract's being signed. We're almost done. Time to move on. I'm gonna let my team take over.

Bruce Scheer: Now that's really important. You you wanna make sure your team, your delivery team, especially, is is ready to take over and deliver the value you promised. But the other thing here is setting some meaningful metrics measurements with that prospect to see, hey, where are we gonna realize value and how can we measure for this over time? And, what what's a practical way to do that so you and I can look each other eye to eye a year from now and know that we did a job well done? What are those key metrics that we need to have? And then when you have that and you have that value realization associated with that, that gives you the right as a seller to swing back, sell more and more often to that account because they see the value. And especially in this age of switching because everybody's into the SaaS model, something as a service. And very often, clients will switch because they're not seeing the value they expected. It's not being realized. And I would contend that's because it's not set up right in the first place as part of this whole buying journey, making sure you're impact ready and the client's impact ready so they can measure for that and realize and witness that value. So those, Mike, are the key three dimensions.

Bruce Scheer: Anything you would add on? I I don't think so.

Mike Wilkinson: I I I absolutely agree with you. I think being impact ready is important. We need to be prepared to measure whether we are delivering the value that we promised. And if we are, I guarantee you're gonna have to remind the customer because they're very good at forgetting. And if we're not, we need to do something about it.

Bruce Scheer: So true. Just be in that voice of truth and that value realization, making sure everybody understands that. And, again, everybody wins. They keep that solution in place. You build upon it, and you sell more solutions to them over time when you really nail this piece. So, Mike, that probably takes us through these ten readiness dimensions as part of the buying journey. I know we've covered a lot, but the beautiful thing is we've got way more content. We've got this really amazing value readiness assessment tool people can get into and rate themselves and identify areas of focus.

Bruce Scheer: Any summary points from you, Mike, on on this, overall framework and these readiness dimensions and the importance of this whole thing?

Mike Wilkinson: Yeah. I think you you're absolutely right, Bruce. The assessment tool for me is an absolute essential because it it does allow you to measure where you're starting off from. So if you're starting off brilliantly in every dimension, that will be absolutely wonderful. But, clearly, if there are things that you need to address, then the assessment tool is a brilliant way of actually starting to uncover what those might be.

Bruce Scheer: Absolutely, Mike. Well, gosh, we've covered so much ground. We needed to set this whole canvas up, the whole framework, so you can see, gosh, I even on my 2 hands, the the critical ten dimensions that you really need to nail to improve your selling performance. And back to what we talked about, you increasing your win rate, bigger deal sizes by 35 percent, and then reducing your sales cycle by 25%. There's just a huge imperative to do this. And then, again, what we were talking about, just your job as a value professional will just be that much more fun. Anything else, Mike?

Mike Wilkinson: I think that that's the point for me. Why why wouldn't you want to have fun? Why wouldn't you want to be doing a fantastic job from your customer's perspective? And why is it that only 12% of salespeople deliver value in the conversation they're having with their clients. The price is huge. The price is huge, Bruce.

Bruce Scheer: Big upside. Well, there we go, Mike. Well, thanks so much for this wonderful episode. Really appreciate it. And that wraps up another insightful episode of the ValuePros Show. We've covered a lot of ground exploring our comprehensive framework for value readiness. From building trust to driving execution, we delved into the key dimensions that can transform your sales approach and results. Remember, becoming value ready isn't just about improving your numbers.

Bruce Scheer: Although we learned, it can lead to significant improvements in close rates, deal sizes, and sales cycle length. It's about making your job more fulfilling and delivering real value to your clients. I wanna thank Mike Wilkinson for sharing his expertise and contributing to this framework. If you wanna assess your own value readiness, don't forget to check out the value readiness assessment tool we mentioned. You can find it in the resources tab at valuepros.io. It's a great way to identify areas where you can improve and take your value based selling to the next level. I'd also strongly recommend you follow and connect with Mike and me on LinkedIn, and please sign up for our email newsletter by visiting valuepros.io. These are great ways to stay updated on the latest in value based selling and continue your journey to becoming value ready.

Bruce Scheer: Thanks for tuning into this special episode. If you found it valuable, please share it with your colleagues and leave us a review. Until next time, keep striving to be value ready and help your buyers buy from you. Thanks.