Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 36. Creating Client Value: A Practical, Modern Approach to Building Business

Richard Barkey

Imparta

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

What makes a great salesperson, account manager, or business developer? In a world where it's hard to differentiate on the product alone, people buy from people who create value for them—both through the solutions they create, and through the help they provide around the buying process. Rather than being seen as intrusive, great salespeople are seen as trusted business advisors.

Poor salespeople, on the other hand, destroy value—not just through the wasted time and costs of unproductive meetings, but through the hidden costs of leaving problems and real needs unresolved. These salespeople struggle to get meetings, fail to grow accounts, and suffer from long sales cycles.

The sales methodology described below is based on "Creating Client Value" (CCV), an approach that has been helping salespeople to drive revenue growth for the last decade. CCV was developed in a unique collaboration between Imparta and Neil Rackham, the author of SPIN Selling and arguably the world's leading researcher into sales effectiveness. In particular, it reflects Neil's more recent work with McKinsey and the book Rethinking the Salesforce, which he coauthored with John de Vincentis.

CCV focuses on the process the customer goes through, rather than on a "sales process." Recognizing where the customer is in their own process is critical in being able to support and influence them through ...