The Compass: Navigating the Enterprise
Value Chain Selling – Intrinsic Value
As we continue to explore the strategic elements of Value Chain Selling, we now introduce an obvious but seldom deliberately executed strategy: Intrinsic Value.
What is Intrinsic Value?
Unlike traditional value propositions that focus on how your offering benefits the organization, Intrinsic Value is about how it benefits the individual decision-makers personally. Your primary contact buys your offering not just because it’s good for the company, but because it helps them achieve their own personal or professional goals. It’s not about what the company needs—it’s about what they need.
This is not as prevalent as it was in the past but it still happens, especially in high-growth firms that are moving fast, those that have an innovative mindset or very large global enterprises with a strong political culture.
Intrinsic Value could mean:
Career Advancement: Your solution helps them succeed in their role, leading to a promotion or recognition within the company.
Influence and Power: It enhances their influence over a key project or area, increasing their visibility and control.
Personal Satisfaction: It aligns with their personal values or professional aspirations, making them feel fulfilled and accomplished.
Why Intrinsic Value Matters
People are driven by a complex mix of motivations, and often, personal interests can outweigh corporate objectives. When you position your offering around Intrinsic Value, you’re tapping into these personal drivers and creating a more compelling case for your solution.
Here’s why Intrinsic Value is a powerful strategy:
Personal Buy-In: When a decision-maker feels that your offering directly benefits them, they are more likely to advocate for it internally. It becomes a personal mission rather than just another business initiative.
Champions and Advocates: Understanding and appealing to an individual's intrinsic motivations can turn them into a strong advocate for your solution. They’ll champion your cause because they see a direct personal benefit.
Navigating Internal Politics: Every organization has its internal politics. By appealing to the personal goals of key stakeholders, they can help you navigate through internal barriers and secure support that might otherwise be difficult to obtain.
Building Long-Term Relationships: When you help someone achieve their personal goals, you build a bond that extends beyond the current deal. This can lead to a long-term relationship that benefits both you and your client.
Closing Critical Deals: Investing time in building these trusted relationships means that when you need to close a deal at the end of a quarter or year, you can appeal to these Buyers on a personal level. Highlighting how your offering will help them achieve their goals—whether it’s making a positive impact on a critical project or strengthening their standing in the company—can be a powerful motivator to finalize the deal.
A Real-World Example
Let’s look at a real-world scenario where Intrinsic Value made the difference.
I was running the global financial services business for a publicly traded software company. It was late morning on a Friday, June 30th. My team & I had exceeded our sales target for Q2 so I was about to leave the city early to enjoy a nice weekend with the family. The phone rang. It was my CEO. He was $2.0M shy of his commit to the street. He acknowledged I had done my job for the quarter but needed more. “What do you have in your pipe that we can pull in?” There was one deal forecasted for $8M ACV in Q4 with a very large Investment Bank. My CEO strongly suggested I call the CIO and offer him all the products in that $8M deal for $2.0M if he will sign today.
My sales team had been working that deal hard and I was bridged to the CIO as part of our deal strategy. We had done a breakfast meeting and a Knicks game, so I was comfortable he would respond to my outreach. What I had learned about him was that he was classic Wall St. He loved a deal that he could brag about to his colleagues. I called him and made the offer. It was executed at 5:30p that day.
You make the investment in learning about the people you are selling to on a personal level. Having that insight is critical. That deal would have never happened if I had not made that investment never knowing that situation would have developed the way it did.
How to Execute an Intrinsic Value Strategy
This requires a deep understanding of the personal drivers of your key decision-makers. Here’s how to do it:
Understand the Need for 1:1 Time: Intrinsic value is personal, and people rarely share personal motivations in group settings. To uncover these insights, you need 1:1 time with the decision-maker—whether it’s having a cup of coffee, or over a business lunch or dinner, on a golf course, or at a sporting event. It appears some salespeople, however, forget the purpose of doing a business event like dinner or golf. It’s not just a fun thing that you can expense. These settings allow for more candid conversations, and people are more likely to trust you with their true motivations. Your goal is to deliberately focus on creating genuine conversations in a relaxed atmosphere.
Build Trust: Gaining trust is critical. The more someone trusts you, the more they’ll open up about what really drives them. Be authentic, respectful, and genuinely interested in their success.
Identify Personal Motivations: During your discovery process, ask questions that reveal personal goals and aspirations. What are their biggest challenges? What do they hope to achieve in their career? And ask, the most powerful of questions: How are you being measured?
Align Your Solution with Their Goals: Once you understand their personal drivers, tailor your messaging to show how your offering helps them achieve these goals. Make it about them, not just the company.
Leverage Their Advocacy: When they see the personal value, encourage them to become a champion for your solution within the company. Provide them with the tools and support they need to present your offering as a key component of their success.
Proximity Sells. Get off your ass. Stop hanging out just doing Zoom calls and emails. Pick up the phone and call your key decision maker / influencer for a 1:1 conversation. Learn about them as a person. Get on a plane and to take them out to lunch or dinner. Get to know them on a personal level. Get close to them. It is more rare in today’s sales environment, but sometimes people still buy from people.
The Power of Intrinsic Value
When you tap into Intrinsic Value, you’re engaging decision-makers on a much deeper level. You’re not just offering a business solution; you’re helping them achieve their own personal success. This makes your solution much harder to ignore or replace.
Call to Action
Ready to start positioning your offering at the highest level of personal value? Contact us today to learn how the Compass can help you navigate the personal motivations of your buyers and drive deeper, more impactful engagements.
Navigation
This post concludes our coverage of the various value chain strategy disciplines. Next week, we will cover how to execute an entire value chain strategy leveraging each of the disciplines in turn. It will review how to move from one to the other as you advance up the value chain.
This was written while listening to “Coal” by Dylan Gossett.
Photo of Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT.
Great article from one of the best minds in the industry!