We have been talking a lot about using the High Value Trade Table (HVT) to close deals. Sales professionals taking our eLearning have found the deal simulator that provides them insight on how to read the score of their deals eye-opening. That said, each organization is unique and requires an in-depth look at the best structure for the HVT. Keep in mind that the HVT spreadsheet we provide in the resource tab gets you started but each company will have unique trades to identify and call out in order to advance their sales along. In addition we are working to integrate this technique directly into the CRM environment to make this even more valuable. Stay tuned for more details on this coming soon.
Where do we start?
The first order of business and best practice is to work the 2 columns of information independently. You should begin by brainstorming the 20 items that your customer asks of you. These are specific things they request you do in order for them to evaluate your product or services. The more things you can identify, the better as it means you have smaller steps to keep the customer engaged.
The list of items will include things like:
Literature
Sales calls
Product demos
Pricing
Complimentary training
Discounts
Here’s the key to doing this correctly: these are now going to be ranked from the easiest thing you can give them at the lowest cost to you and the company to the hardest thing you can give them at the highest cost to you and the company.
You have to think critically as you are doing this ranking. Is it easier and less costly for me to do a sales call than a demo? Keep in mind that a sales call over the phone during which you qualify the client is less costly than preparing a web demo that potentially requires an application specialist to be scheduled and their time used for the call. That means a single salesperson can deliver a sales call while a demo may require more people and time to prep making it more expensive and in fact more valuable to the client. Each HVT will build value for the client and cost your company more resources in terms of people, time and money.
The literature is easy and costs you next to nothing so, in this ranking, you would say literature is easiest and at the lowest cost while a discount is hard and at a very high cost. When you keep testing the process, your list takes shape and the side where the customer asks you to do work begins to form into a value chain from low value to high value.
Example:
Matching these two examples, (note that you need at least 20 items on each side of the list but for demonstration purposes we only used 6) you now have Value vs. Time and the deal score just falls out perfectly for you to forecast and negotiate more effectively.
So if your customer asks for a demo, for example, you need them to do a requirements document. The goal here is to keep your deal balanced and to understand that when they ask for increasingly valuable items, you should be further into the deal, thereby increasing your confidence the deal will close and not end in no decision.
To learn how to customize your process and how to read these maps to increase deal velocity and accuracy of your forecast, take the Sales Gauge eLearning SG5 Negotiating with High Value Trades or contact us info@sales-gauge.com.