I urge sales and presales folks to uncover tangible measurements of value in their discovery calls with prospects. But what if you can’t get specific numbers from them, for whatever reason?
Consider: Whose value numbers are most believable?
- At the top of the list is the prospect’s specific information. That’s clearly best. But if this is unavailable or unknown, what are other options?
- Next best are numbers from other, similar customers. Same market, same size, same or similar situation. You can use phrasing like, “We haven’t had a chance/been able to explore your specific value elements, but what we hear from other, similar customers is that they have enjoyed gains of XX, reduction of YY by TT%, and have been able to redeploy ZZ FTE to other, more valuable tasks.” This would be the recommended approach, if you are unable to capture your current prospect’s info.
- Farther down the “believability” axis are industry numbers, coming from Gartner or another similar source. These numbers are believable as an aggregate, but most prospect organizations would say that they don’t align well with their specific situation. You’ll hear phrases like, “Well, we’re much smaller than those in the study” or “Things are different for our portion of the space…” Be careful when using these numbers, accordingly, as they may not resonate as strongly as you hope.
- And at the very bottom of the believability axis are the vendor’s numbers. Sadly, even if the vendor’s numbers are correct, they are still viewed with deep suspicion by the prospect!
So, if you are unable get your prospect’s specific value numbers in a discovery call, use the numbers from other, similar customers when communicating value in demos and other engagements.
For more on uncovering and communicating value in discovery and demos, explore the Resources pages on our website at https://GreatDemo.com or enroll yourself of your team in a Doing Discovery or Great Demo! Workshop.
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