We’ve all heard the phrase: “People do business with people they know, like and trust.” It’s been a sales mantra for decades. But lately I’ve been wondering if it still captures the full picture of how buying decisions are made. A colleague and I were talking about trust in the relationship between buyer and seller. He challenged whether trust is …
Salespeople don’t lose margin because they lack motivation. They lose it because they’re stuck on the wrong side of the Value Challenge. It’s a phrase I’ve used for years — and it sits at the heart of the Value Challenge Framework™. But the value challenge isn’t one single issue. It’s really two challenges, layered together: 🧠 The Strategic Value Challenge …
What is a Value Proposition? A value proposition is the clearest way to communicate why a customer should choose you over the competition. It’s not just about what you do—it’s about the difference you make. For a value proposition to be effective, it must: ✅ Resonate – Speak directly to your customer’s priorities and pain points. ✅ Differentiate – Show …
And hope, as we know, is not a strategy. Far too many sellers do a decent job talking about their offer, the shiny features, the benefits, the service levels, but completely miss the commercial context their buyer is living in. The risks they’re carrying. The friction they’re tolerating. The money leaking out. Worse, they assume the customer already knows the …
I was reading a psychology book the other, and I started to wonder why it wasn’t written in English. It looked like English. The words were there. But I found myself rereading every sentence two or three times to make sense of it. And even then, I wasn’t sure I understood it. While I was wrestling with the text, it …