The Value Mapping Blog

I am always surprised that the concept of differentiation somehow seems to get lost in the messaging strategy when Product Marketing starts supporting the “solution sale”.  

Product comparisons and differentiation are the key ingredients of the product sales message, but when companies transition from products to solutions, the message seems to change from one of differentiation to one of solving the customer’s problems and it really needs to be both.

The problem is that we all are comfortable with a two dimensional message model, because it can be easily represented in templates, spreadsheets, and other two dimensional documents. 

With a pure product message, the customer is assumed to have already decided to buy from someone.  As a result, the two dimensions of the messaging model are:

1.      What your features are

2.      What your competition’s features are

Effective solution messaging however requires a three dimensional model.

1.      What’s the customer’s problem or need

2.      How your solution  solves that particular problem or need

3.      How your solution solves that specific need better than the competition. 

Unfortunately, representing these three dimensions is in a two dimensional document is nearly impossible.  And as a result a lot of Product Marketers, and many messaging consultants, simply eliminate the third dimension and hope nobody notices. 

But the problem is that sales people get asked why their solution is different and they need to have a compelling “Differentiated Value” story that coherently describes their differentiation in the context of the problem that the Customer is trying to solve. 

This is just one of the reasons that effective solutions messaging requires a more robust positioning and messaging process built around a relational data model.

As software products get more complex, and are being sold as solutions, the amount of sales support can become overwhelming.  But if you concentrate on crisply and clearly documenting the answers to five key solution selling questions, you can save yourself a lot of time and become a hero in the process.  Those five questions are:

1.       What are a few things sales people need to know to more intelligently discuss the most important customer’s needs and problems your solution solves?

2.       Why should solving those problems be a high and urgent priority for your customers?

3.       How should sales people identify and qualify the best prospects for your solution?

4.       How does the customer use your solution to solve each need and problem?

5.       What is the value of your solution’s differentiation in the context of each need and problem?

These sound pretty simple, but getting the sales force to institutionalize this knowledge sure isn’t easy.  Any experienced Product Marketer however,  should have this information down cold, so the key is to figure out a way to organize  this knowledge so sales people can get access to it and handle the 20% of the conversations that drive 80% of the solution selling process without bringing you or another product expert on the sales call. 

Over the next several weeks I will have some posts that go deeper into each of these questions and provide you with a knowledge model that will help you communicate and then institutionalize the answers throughout the sales force.

I have lots of people ask me the difference between a Value Map and the templates & conversation support forms that are part of every solution centric messaging or selling methodology.  My answer is as follows: 

Well constructed Value Maps are more about explicitly cataloging and describing the “What”; i.e. the facts, ideas, and insights we want sales people to understand so they can ultimately communicate like a problem solver as well as a product seller. 

Conversation support templates and forms are more about the “How”; i.e. scripting the sales dialogue, and how best to communicate those facts, ideas, and insights.  This is a whole lot trickier and it constitutes the Art of the communications process!

Sure, there’s some overlap, between the What & the How, but if your sales people don’t have a fundamental understanding of the customer’s needs and issues, along with your solution’s value and differentiation in the context of those needs and issues, then it’s a crap shoot think they’ll be able to pull off the conversation, no matter how good the script or prompter is.

That’s why creating a Value Map should be the first step in any solutions selling, sales enablement, or customer centric messaging initiative.

Developing product centric messaging has traditionally been done through a simple single threaded model where value and differentiation are communicated from the inside-out or product perspective like this: 

1.       Here’s our product

2.       Here’s what it does

3.       This is why you should buy it

4.       Here’s how it’s different

5.       What do you think?

When Craig Stull of Pragmatic Marketing developed the concept of “Marketecture” back in the mid 1990s he followed a similar single threaded model that went something like this:

1.       Here’s the problem

2.       Here’s the solution

3.       Here is how the solution and its features solve the problem, i.e. Marketecture.

Craig’s approach to marketecture is simple and clean from a strategic positioning perspective, and it changed the way Product Managers & Marketers think about their products and services. 

However, when you move from a high level marketecture strategy to supporting the selling effort the challenges are a lot more daunting, and two things become apparent.

1.       First, it is difficult to define and articulate differentiation, because you need to relate three things.  What you do; what the other guys do, and why what you do to solve the problem is better than what the other guys do.

2.       Second, this single threaded  hierarchical structure it is also difficult to define and articulate the nuances in your messaging between different markets and different stakeholders within those markets

This is why creating great customer and solution centric sales messaging requires a more rigorous and explicit mapping process between the needs and pains of your customers and the value of your solutions and their capabilities.  A well constructed Value map becomes the marketing and sales DNA that makes solution selling work.

One of the toughest challenges facing Product Managers and Marketers is creating customer relevant, differentiated, sales ready, & solution centric messaging for complex software products.

This is why the concept of “Marketecture” developed by Pragmatic Marketing in the late 90’s is so important.  The problem today however, that traditional Problem Statements and Positioning Documents as well as the vision and role of Marketecture needs to evolve.

Today’s customers demand true solutions.  As a result, software products are becoming more complex, and many are being sold to solve multiple problems, for multiple stakeholders, in multiple markets. This unrelenting pressure sell solutions combined with the increased complexity has spawned a new generation of Marketecture tools that support a more rigorous Value Mapping Process and are built upon a relational and web enabled value and differentiation model.

For the last decade or so increasing customer focus and satisfaction has been the rallying cry of a lot of CEO’s. And companies as a whole have made some progress in becoming more customer friendly, especially in the area of service and support.

The gaping hole in the whole customer focus movement however, has been the marketing and sales organization. In many respects they are the least customer friendly and most customer combative part of a company.

The Value Mapping processes changes all that, because it puts the customer’s needs at the center of your marketing and sales communication strategy.  When customer centric messaging is combined with Visual Value Maps it becomes clear to all employees that management’s commitment to the customer is a lot more than slogans

In many respects, a well executed enterprise value mapping strategy is the most visible customer centric initiative a company can do to, and it’s the reason that it should be visible at all levels of the organization, from secretary to CEO.

As Craig Stull, the founder and CEO of Pragmatic Marketing says:

“A Product Manager’s real value is strategic in nature, yet most spend an inordinate amount of time answering basic questions for the sales force. Until we find an effective way of off-loading or automating this mundane task, product managers will continue to be high paid lackeys for sales.”

Product Management is a function where strategic planning and market analysis, as well as tactical execution, are critical success factors. Unfortunately, research indicates that Product Managers spend more than 80% of their time on tactical activities and sales support.  Additionally, 93% of Product Managers feel they spend far too much time answering basic questions for sales, and 72% feel they are not used effectively as a sales support resource

Value Mapping is unique in that it not only increases the strategic impact of Product Management but it saves them time on tactical sales support.  A well constructed Value Map will reduce the hours spent:

• Answering basic questions from sales people.
• Creating both external and internal communications as well as sales tools.
• Preparing for, and conducting sales training.
• Participating in unqualified sales situations.

The bottom line…more time for the other strategic aspects of Product Management

If you’re serious about selling solutions then your sales people, as well as your company must be perceived as problem solvers not product sellers.  This means that marketing and sales need to communicate more from the outside-in perspective of the customer as opposed to the inside-out perspective of the product.

Unfortunately communicating like a product seller has become the essence of most company’s marketing and sales DNA.  As such, it’s only natural for sales and marketing people to communicate value and differentiation from the inside-out through a conversation that goes something like this:

• Here’s our product
• Here’s what it does
• This is why you should buy it
• Here is how it’s different
• What do you think?

This is fine in a sellers market, when you’re late in the buying process, and prospects are comparing products. Selling solutions in today’s market however, demands that you engage customers early on in the process and convince them that you understand their needs and issues and start approaching the sales process a problem solving exercise.

If you’re like most companies 10% of your sales people can figure this out on their own but the other 90% need a Value Map to guide them.