Learning from your peers is key to creating robust value management programs. With a thriving value community, getting practical insights from value leaders has never been easier! This week, we sat down with Prateek Goel, Global Head of Customer Value at Aviatrix about how he worked with Ecosystems to set up a value management program for Aviatrix–in 5 practical steps outlined below:
1. Internal Conversations to Understand the Value Proposition
The first step to creating a customer value management program is to start with internal conversations, asking the question, “What do we think our value proposition is?” At Aviatrix, Prateek and his team used these internal conversations to craft an initial working hypothesis of the value of Aviatrix for customers. This activity was not limited to sales. Instead, it was a cross-functional effort involving all stakeholders, including sales, customer success, marketing, product, and management teams. Fortunately, the team at Aviatrix had strong alignment right out of the gate, but they needed to create a value proposition with finesse, a value framework that would hit the nail on the head in a concise way. The value proposition needed to be distilled to something any new rep could understand and use with customers and prospects.
2. Test the Value Proposition with Existing Customers
The next step was to pilot this value framework with existing customers, who are champions and implicitly understand the challenges they are overcoming with the solution. The value proposition was put to the test by asking existing customers for their feedback with questions like, “Does this value proposition resonate with you?” and “Do you get value in these areas from using our solution?” Validating the solution’s key elements of value with existing customers first made it possible to further refine the value proposition. Check out our recent blog post to learn how to create a compelling customer value proposition.
Another key asset that helps establish a new Value Management Program is partnering with a renowned research organization such as IDC, which can generate a research report validating your value proposition. This is a significant investment, but lends credibility to the Value Program.
3. Test the Value Proposition on Prospects
Next, the value proposition was ready to be put to the test with prospects, driving the conversation with questions like: “This is what other customers have told us. Does this resonate with you?” This feedback not only further validated and helped refine the value proposition, but it also became a natural starting point for the presale conversation. Sales teams could seamlessly transition their pitch to conversations with the prospect about how the Aviatrix solution can deliver that value. This typically helps the sales team overcome hurdles and move the sales process forward, leading to a Proof of Concept or more aptly put, a Proof of Value. This is a crucial step because a Proof of Value is where a prospect is converted into a Champion, and in parallel, the Value Consultant can customize a business case and “Arm the Champion”.
4. Build a Scalable, Consistent Model
Now that the value proposition was tested and proven to resonate with existing and potential customers, it was time to build a scalable model for selling and delivering on that value proposition across the business. While it’s possible to create a manual model for value management programs, Prateek knew that would be difficult to scale and maintain consistency. Depending on manual tracking, reporting, and communication across teams and with prospects and customers is cumbersome and error-prone. Instead, Prateek and his team engaged Ecosystems to implement a scalable digital platform to manage their value program. Value management platforms like Ecosystems digitize the value management process, making it possible to run your value management program at scale while freeing up your sales and customer success teams to provide the necessary human touch with their accounts.
5. Implement and Customize
Finally, it’s time to implement and continue to iteratively customize the value management program. Within the Ecosystems platform, Aviatrix and its customers have access to digital tools and dashboards that seamlessly keep them on the same page in terms of value. The value proposition comes to life at scale. The Ecosystems platform also makes it easy for Aviatrix to empower prospects and customers to become champions for the Aviatrix solution in their own organization. For example, customers have access to transparent value realization dashboards, available to them on-demand, so they can easily defend and promote the value of the solution with internal stakeholders. This not only creates more impactful customer partnerships, but it also helps Prateek’s team scale in an efficient and effective manner. Besides the above steps, here are some principles to keep in mind as you set up a new Value Management program
Principles:
- Don’t do it alone: engage with sales leadership, product marketing, customer success, and all stakeholders
- Keep the team lean: don’t over hire people. Instead build a small team of self-driven and entrepreneurial individuals, and focus on driving scale with a value platform and the field team through ongoing training and enablement
- Prioritize engagements: get engaged on the key deals and don’t fall in the trap of getting stretched too thin. Quality over quantity
- Demonstrate and amplify successes: highlight improvements in win rates, deal sizes, expansions etc. Communication is key
- Be patient and enjoy the ride: it’s a tough ask to set up a new program. Be patient as success won’t happen overnight. Set appropriate expectations with leadership. And most importantly, have fun
Join our Value Community
For more practical insights from value professionals like Prateek, join our rapidly growing customer value community. This community of 1,000+ professionals in value management, B2B sales, presales, and customer success is the first-ever open forum where value selling practitioners can expand their network, cross-functionally solve common challenges, and share learnings with top SaaS companies like AWS, Google Cloud, and Salesforce. Join the community today!
