The average B2B deal now involves up to 10 or more decision makers. This is why having a sales process alone isn’t enough. Success depends on your ability to communicate value to multiple stakeholders, translating that message from the C-suite down to everyday conversations in the field. Without this, hitting your targets becomes far more difficult.
To consistently succeed, the best leaders are championing a value-centric approach that empowers front-line sellers and managers to build trust and more meaningful relationships with prospects and customers.
In this masterclass, leaders from Red Hat, OneTrust, and Freshworks share insights on how to transform your sales process into a practical playbook that drives revenue. They dive into essential tactics, like implementing a value-based sales approach, creating a training framework that turns strategy and methodology into meaningful conversations, and using proven techniques to enforce best practices.
What is value selling and why is it so topical?
"Value selling is all about prioritizing the customer's business objectives,” says Anurag Goel, Global Head of Value Consulting and Realization at Red Hat. “With increased pressure on revenue leaders and tougher pipelines, renewals are at risk. Technology spending is under greater scrutiny, making value selling more critical than ever. The question is — are you leading with your technology, or are you putting your customers first?”
Successful value selling ultimately boils down to aligning with the customer’s unique needs and challenges, versus trying to wow them with product features. By understanding their specific business objectives, sales teams can demonstrate how their solutions directly impact the customer’s bottom line. As Goel highlights, in an environment where every dollar is scrutinized, focusing on customer outcomes is the key to standing out.
The buying dynamics have shifted dramatically in a post-COVID world, leading to a resurgence in value selling, according to Maggie Callahan, Director of Global Revenue Enablement at OneTrust. She explains, “Pre-COVID, most buying committees consisted of about seven people. Today, that number has grown to an average of 13 to 14 people on any given committee, which means we’re selling to significantly more stakeholders.”
As buying committees become more diverse, the sales process becomes increasingly complex. "We have to understand how value relates not just to one person, but to a range of individuals," Maggie emphasizes. She notes that this complexity highlights the importance of emotional intelligence, thorough discovery, and consistent engagement. "It's about persisting throughout the entire customer life cycle — not just during the sales process, but well beyond it."
How to orient your organization around value selling
Understanding the importance of value selling is one thing; retraining your teams to embrace it is another — especially when they’re accustomed to focusing on your company and product. This shift requires a strategic approach to ensure your team puts the customer’s objectives front and center, adapting their mindset to prioritize value over features.
"Implementing any new methodology is difficult because it requires a complete behavioral shift and a change management program," says Maggie. "If you choose to adopt a methodology like value selling, you need to get everyone aligned, build out the framework, and establish clarity around the language your team will use."
While many organizations may assume it’s important to start with sales and get their buy-in first, based on Maggie’s experience of implementing value selling at three different organizations, it’s just as important to have buy-in from product marketing and marketing leaders who need to be able to adapt the methodology and translate it into new sales content.
A few key questions to ask and answer as you’re orienting your organization around value selling include:
- How can you prioritize features that deliver meaningful outcomes for your customers?
- What strategies will help you align all your GTM, product, and marketing teams around a unified value selling methodology?
- How can your product marketing and marketing leaders adapt the methodology and translate it into effective sales content that resonates with your diverse customer base?
- What language should you use across departments to ensure consistency in delivering your value-driven message?
Enforcing and measuring your value selling methodology
Before you kick off your value selling methodology, it’s essential to understand how you’re going to enforce it.
Here are some questions to consider:
- How will you enforce this methodology through committee meetings or content reviews?
- How often should these meetings take place to ensure progress and alignment?
- How will this new methodology change the structure and focus of your forecast calls?
- How will you train your VPs, SVPs, managers, and cascading leaders to effectively communicate and reinforce the new messaging in their teams?
A crucial element is having a methodology that the leadership team enforces, and measures its effectiveness. Without strong commitment from the leadership team and a clear method of tracking progress, even the best strategies can lose momentum.
"Value selling needs to begin with a leader’s vision," says Omer Krugman, Senior Director of Global Innovation at Freshworks. "When you introduce a new value program, it’s crucial that people in the field understand what’s in it for them. Sales teams already have a lot to manage, so adding another layer can be overwhelming if not communicated effectively. You need to ensure they see the value in it so they’ll adopt the methodology."
In terms of measurement, Omer suggests beginning the process long before closing new deals. "There are lagging indicators for deal and sales success, but you can measure other factors much earlier in the process," he says. "For example, are deals where value selling or the new methodology is applied showing higher power dynamics or more multithreading? Are you seeing increased outreach and engagement, such as higher email responsiveness? These leading indicators, which many systems can track today, offer valuable insights well before the deal is finalized. Set up a dashboard to monitor these metrics and measure progress throughout the sales cycle — not just at the end."
Closing thoughts
With more decision makers involved in deals, and increased scrutiny over every dollar spent, organizations must focus on consistently communicating value across all levels. This requires aligning leadership, sales, product, and marketing teams around a unified methodology, and reinforcing it through training, clear metrics, and regular reviews. By prioritizing customer outcomes and empowering teams to deliver value throughout the entire sales cycle, companies can build stronger relationships, improve conversion rates, and ultimately drive sustainable revenue growth.
