MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Acing Value-Based Sales

To get the best returns on innovative products, collaborate with customers to define and share the commercial opportunity.

Imagine that burst of enthusiasm when a senior executive unveils a plan that promises a significant and lasting impact on the organization’s financial performance. “Our new product creates more value for our customers than anything else on the market, and we should get paid accordingly,” they proudly declare. “If we measure and communicate that value precisely, then we can finally get the return we deserve.”

The sales team buys into the logic. Now armed with a superior product, a sophisticated value calculator, and a host of new selling arguments, they quickly turn the senior executive into a prophet. Price, margin, and profit all improve significantly in the first quarter of implementation, with a smaller but still important increase the next.

About the Author

Marco Bertini is a professor of marketing and the director of open executive programs at Esade, in Barcelona, and a senior adviser to Globalpraxis. Oded Koenigsberg is executive dean, Dubai; professor of marketing; and chair, marketing faculty, at London Business School. Todd Snelgrove is the founder of consultancy Experts in Value and a fractional VP of sales at Sales Xceleration.

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