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The Power of Value-Added Selling
The top-line pressure that salespeople face today is both a strategic and a tactical challenge for their companies’ bottom lines. Global economic concerns, high unemployment, and a lethargic recovery from the Great Recession have most people feeling anxious.
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Value-Added Is Thriving
Value-added is neither a cliche nor a gilded lily, but often misunderstood. It is neither a chic nor a whimsical attempt at standing out. There is nothing faddish about value-added; it has been around for a long time. From pre-historic peoples that decorated cave walls with images of their time, to today’s digital imagery, humans have been adding value to the way they record their view of the world.
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What Is Value-Added Selling?
The problem with conventional sales training is that it offers selling techniques independent of a broader, more coherent go-to-market strategy. Value-Added Selling is more than a book, a speaker, or a website; it is a philosophy and an organizational go-to-market strategy. Variably called added value selling or value based selling, Tom Reilly explains Value-Added Selling as a philosophy and a process. His pioneering book spawned the value-selling revolution. This article will help you understand how to design your value added sales training program.
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How to Build a Persuasive Sales Presentation
Persuasion is a core competency for salespeople. To sell more effectively, you must become a master of influence. In this article, Tom Reilly teaches you how to build a compelling value story by using your passion, unique selling proposition, and value proposition to increase your persuasiveness.
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The 4-P’s of Professional Selling
The sales force exists for one reason—to execute marketing strategy tactically. Successful sales and marketing teams work jointly to articulate their value proposition to the market. Drawing parallels to the Neil Borden’s concept of the marketing mix, Tom Reilly discusses personalization, perceived value, performance value, and proof as vital to creating a value-added sales presentation.
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Value-Added Selling Is a Team Sport
Functional silos are a leading cause of customer dissatisfaction. The sales force may sell the first experience with the customer, but it is the total experience with a company that brings customers back. In this article, Tom Reilly shares his insights into teamwork, silos, and how value-added organizations create satisfied customers.
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The Value-Added Sales Process
Many problems that salespeople encounter come from a short-term, transaction-oriented sales mentality. This transactional approach means that they go from deal to deal and from order to order. Buyers view them as order takers. In this article, Tom Reilly discusses Value-Added Selling as a process. This strategic approach to selling makes salespeople better planners and thinkers about the sales process.
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Customer Service Is More Than a Department
In most companies, customer service is more of a department than an attitude. This means that only certain employees feel and act accountable for customer satisfaction. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) has fallen in recent years. In this article, Tom Reilly discusses how you can make the customer service philosophy a reality in your company.
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How to Create a Value-Added Sales Culture
Building a sales culture is a top-down, bottom-up process. Sales managers must be strategic thinkers and coaches for their sales force. In this article, Tom Reilly offers his thoughts on sales coaching and what sales managers must do to create a value-added sales culture. Tom drills down into five specific areas for creating this sales culture: introspection, mission clarity, focusing, planning, and coaching salespeople.
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How to Become a Better Sales Coach
One-in-three sales managers is rated as an outstanding coach by his or her salespeople. This means two-thirds of sales managers need help to become a better sales coach. In this article, tom Reilly discusses seven rules for sales managers that want to become better coaches. Additionally, tom offers tips for delivering feedback. This material is excerpted from his book, Coaching for Sales Success.
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Are You a Great Manager?
A twenty-five year study of 80,000 managers conducted by the Gallup organization found common denominators of great managers. In this article, Tom Reilly shares with you the findings from this study.
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Leadership in Tough Times
Tough times demand a lot from leaders. In tough times, employees look to their leadership for reassurance and steadiness. In this article, Tom Reilly discusses what managers must do to become strong and effective leaders in tough times. For their teams to thrive, not just survive in tough times, sales coaches must lead by example. Tom offers specific tips to achieve this.
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Selling in Tough Times Is a Matter of Attitude
To prevail in tough times, salespeople must do these three things: consider the source of bad news, remain optimistic, and use positive mental programing. Tom Reilly shares his insights on how salespeople can thrive, not just survive in tough times.
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Tough Times Attitudes for Salespeople
In tough times, half of the battle is in your head and the other half is on the streets. The mental battle is as important as the battle you fight in the field. In this article, Tom Reilly shares specific ideas on how salespeople can sell value in tough times. Tom emphasizes that you have a choice for how you want to compete in tough times.
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When You Can’t Compete on Price
Price resistance is daily reality for salespeople. There can only be one cheapest supplier; the rest must compete on value, not price. If you cannot compete as the low-cost provider then you must compete on your value-added. In this article, Tom Reilly discusses how you can compete on your total value, not just on price. Tom emphasizes that it is important to add value, not cost.
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What Is a Fair Price?
Guilt is a major obstacle to salespeople capturing maximum value from the sale. Your attitude and beliefs can be your biggest competitor when it comes to profitability. In this article, Tom Reilly discusses the negative attitudes that affect how profitably salespeople sell.
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Price Objections Are the Number One Obstacle for Salespeople
The five most dreaded words for salespeople are: “Your price is too high.” A study of sales manages found that price objections are the number one obstacle for salespeople. In this article, Tom Reilly explains that cutting price in only one way to respond to price resistance.
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Crush Price Objections
Price shoppers offer push-back on your price. Salespeople have options beyond lowering price for dealing with price shoppers. In an article named for his best-selling book, Tom Reilly offers six ways to respond to price objections. This article will help you feel more in-control of your reaction to price resistance.
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Factors That Affect Price Sensitivity
Price-sensitive buyers try to get salespeople to cave in on price. Responding to price objections means that you must first understand those factors that affect price sensitivity. In this article, Tom Reilly discusses how your knowledge of these factors can make you a better price negotiator.
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Why Salespeople Cut Price
The number one reason salespeople cut price is because they can. There are many reasons why salespeople cut price. Price negotiations do not necessarily have to end in the salesperson’s lowering the price. In this article, Tom Reilly offers insight into why salespeople fail to hold the line on prices.
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