Traditional product-centric sales tactics are no longer effective, especially given the diverse and strategic spending patterns of SMBs and enterprises on SaaS. 45% of SMBs spend $600,000 or less annually on SaaS, while 38% allocate between $600,000 and $2.4 million. On the other hand, 38% of enterprises spend between $2.4 million and $12 million annually, with 26% exceeding $12 million and 11% investing more than $60 million each year.
These numbers highlight how companies are becoming increasingly strategic and discerning in their SaaS investments. For enterprises, significant budgets indicate that they prioritize solutions aligning with their core initiatives and delivering clear ROI. This shift means that offerings not tied to top strategic goals are quickly deprioritized. As a result, value selling — where the focus is on demonstrating tangible business outcomes rather than just product features — has become more crucial than ever.
In this Masterclass, leaders from Freshworks, MongoDB, and Xactly Corp reveal practical frameworks for selling remotely, hiring the right talent, and building a strong value selling culture.
What is value selling?
Value selling is a sales process where rather than highlighting features or pricing, a rep focuses directly on how the solution aligns with the customer’s needs. “It’s essential to show how solutions impact a customer’s bottom line,” says Julie Douglas, Revenue Enablement Leader at Freshworks. “At Freshworks, our field team is selling more to enterprise and strategic accounts. In this space, the expectation is to speak to the business value of our solutions.”
With information readily available, prospects can research a product or service and find information anywhere they want. This means they’re no longer relying on reps to tell them about features. Charles Martelli, VP of GTM Enablement at MongoDB, says modern buyers are looking for guidance when weighing their options. “They want salespeople to understand their business, figure out their problems, and partner with them to address those problems. This doesn’t necessarily come down to the solution itself; it’s more about the relationship.”
Creating a culture around value selling
While many companies understand the importance of value selling, and the benefits it offers prospects, creating a culture around its implementation is often easier said than done. “If you don’t focus on the managers first, it can be really detrimental,” says Julie. “You need managers to drive change within their teams. But before this can happen, they need to see the value in value selling.”
Without frontline manager buy-in, creating a culture around value selling will be a challenge. “Any RevOps or Enablement strategy lives and dies with frontline managers,” says Bayley Fesler, Director of Revenue Operations at Xactly Corp.
Tactical strategies to create a culture around value selling:
- Coach your managers and teach them how to coach: Ensuring that your managers are not just inspecting but actively coaching their teams is crucial. Effective coaching means managers can guide reps through the value selling framework so they’re asking the right questions and driving the right actions.
- Leverage tools effectively to drive methodology: Utilizing tools that reinforce value selling practices can help embed these principles into the daily workflow. This approach promotes a bottom-up adoption, allowing everyone in the organization to see value selling in action. For example, when a sales rep witnesses a champion engaging heavily with a mutual action plan, it reinforces the importance of these tools and methodologies in driving successful outcomes.
- Celebrate the micro wins along the journey: Recognizing and celebrating small victories is essential for maintaining momentum and morale as your team adopts value selling practices. Celebrating micro wins, such as a rep successfully applying value selling techniques in a prospect interaction, reinforces positive behavior and encourages continued use of the methodology. This approach also helps build confidence within the team, showing them that their efforts are making a tangible impact.
How to value sell without being in front of the customer
Most selling is done remotely, meaning that in order to effectively value sell, you need to work with your buyer to gain an in-depth understanding of their business challenges. Start by asking key questions that uncover their pain points and priorities, such as:
- What is the biggest challenge your team is currently facing?
- How is this challenge impacting your business goals and priorities?
- Why is now the right time to address this challenge?
- What happens if you don’t address this challenge now?
- What solutions have you tried in the past and what were the results?
Once you have an in-depth understanding of the problem your buyer is trying to solve, you can work with them to create a business case that outlines the tangible benefits your solution offers.
“Being able to arm your champion with the right proof points that are highly relevant to their business is essential,” says Julie. “I remember once losing a deal and asking the prospect what happened, and he said he could get the same benefit from our competitors as us. This is why focusing on the differentiation that ties specifically to the prospect’s challenges and what they’re trying to accomplish is so critical.”
Another important aspect of value selling, even when not in front of the customer, is to avoid being lazy. “When you’re selling behind a computer, it’s easy to forget to get dressed for the meeting, show up professionally, edit your deck, and make sure you’ve prepared a point of view,” Charles explains. “Before any meeting, take the time to prepare, know your ICP, and show up in a way that lets the prospect know you care about the call.”
Hiring & training reps for success in value selling
When it comes to value selling, the payoffs can be significant, but they often take time to materialize. To be effective, reps have to learn how to balance the urgency of their commission checks with the patience required to meet the prospect’s needs.
“Accounts might take three years to reach the point where a rep is making seven figures, and new reps often aspire to be like those strategic reps,” Charles explains. “But after six or nine months, they start to feel the pressure, saying, ‘I need to make money now.’ This is when bad habits can emerge. It’s crucial to help them stay disciplined early on and remind them to focus on the customer. When they do this, the desired outcomes will follow. The key is to ensure that your solution addresses the right problem for the customer — not the wrong one.”
Another key element to successfully implement a culture around value selling is to hire reps with a growth mindset. It's essential to bring onboard individuals who are committed to continuous learning, eager to refine their skills, and motivated to excel in their roles. These are the reps who will stay disciplined, focus on the customer's needs, and ultimately drive long-term success in value selling.
“At Freshworks, we continuously cultivate and emphasize the importance of having a growth mindset,” says Julie. “The onus is on both our sales leaders and our enablement team to make sure everyone has the tools they need with a framework and roadmap they can successfully execute on.”
Closing thoughts
As this masterclass illustrates, value selling works — but, it requires more than just understanding the concepts. It’s about applying actionable frameworks to real-world scenarios. This means securing manager buy-in, making sure your reps show up professionally to every meeting (whether in person or remote), understanding a customer’s true challenges, and demonstrating how your solution is uniquely positioned to solve them.
