The Origin of Value Realization Events: A Delightful Differentiator!

 

Waaay back at the turn of the century (2000, not 1900), I purchased a CRM system for my organization, amounting to an investment of about $100,000 at that time (for a perpetual license). The moment I signed the license agreement and issued the PO to the vendor, a great pressure descended heavily onto my shoulders: the pressure of the responsibility of that $100,000 investment of our company’s money.

 

Was that pressure relieved when installation was complete? No.

 

Was the pressure released when data migration, data loading, and system set-up was finished? 

Nope.

 

Did the weight lessen when we went live and trained all the team? Negative.

 

I first began to feel the burden of responsibility relax when I was able to report my forecast in a few mouse clicks versus what had previously taken hours of my team’s time and my time. When I shared that up-to-date and accurate forecast with the balance of senior management, I commented, “This is the first time we’ve been able to do this in a few moments – and know that it is correct – versus the fire-drills we’ve been suffering for the past year.”

 

That’s when I realized that similar Value Realization Events were equally (if not more) important for our customers. That’s also when we started to work with our customers and prospects to define and track Value Realization Events going forward.

 

Vendors who define Value Realization Events in discovery with their prospects are demonstrating an earnest desire to ensure their prospects’ success as they become customers. Additionally, these vendors are establishing the front portion of the process that can be continued through implementation, through rollout, and handed neatly to customer success.

 

These vendors differentiate delightfully from their competition who sell and then run to their next opportunity (don’t get in their way!).

 

 

Moral: Define and agree upon Value Realization Events in discovery!

 

 

Learn more about Value Realization Events on page 110 in Doing Discovery: https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/

 

If you missed some of these posts, you’ll find another dozen or more waiting for you at https://greatdemo.com/blog/

 

And you’ll find 35 additional story gems in “Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales, Presales, and Marketing Stories (and Lessons Learned)” here: https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy