{"id":35539,"date":"2024-07-11T01:40:56","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T01:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/?p=35539"},"modified":"2024-07-11T01:42:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T01:42:09","slug":"the-incredible-value-of-value-realization-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/the-incredible-value-of-value-realization-events\/","title":{"rendered":"The Incredible Value of Value Realization Events"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEvery diagnosis and treatment need a corresponding prognosis\u2026!\u201d<br \/>\n\u2013 Me<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be a delight to dramatically differentiate in discovery? It\u2019s easy! Once your prospect sees a vision of a solution using your capabilities, discuss and agree upon several Value Realization Events.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s in this article for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Traditional salespeople\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Good salespeople\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Great sales teams\u2026<\/li>\n<li>A medical analogy<\/li>\n<li>Value Realization Events<\/li>\n<li>Make a list<\/li>\n<li>When to discuss<\/li>\n<li>Linking to implementation and customer success<\/li>\n<li>Convincing differentiation<\/li>\n<li>Another perspective<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou\u2019re actually interested in our success\u2026!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s explore\u2026!<\/p>\n<h2>Traditional Salespeople\u2026<\/h2>\n<p><em>Traditional<\/em> salespeople enthusiastically pursue their sales processes up until the moment their prospects send in the purchase order and the money. Once these are received, do <em>not<\/em> get in these salespeople\u2019s way as they <em>race<\/em> to the next opportunity!<\/p>\n<p>These salespeople clearly don\u2019t care about their customers\u2019 success. They are often referred to as being \u201ccoin-operated!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My assumption is that none of you readers fall into this category; you\u2019re much better than that!<\/p>\n<h2>Good Salespeople\u2026<\/h2>\n<p><em>Good<\/em> salespeople have their customers\u2019 interests closer to heart and track progress until their customers\u2019 go live events. These salespeople are much better, but could they go further?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, indeed!<\/p>\n<h2>Great Salespeople\u2026<\/h2>\n<p>Truly <em>great<\/em> salespeople and sales teams go one large step beyond go live. They follow and facilitate their customers\u2019 journeys all the way to the point when their customers begin to realize value from the use of the new software. These sales teams pursue the post-go live processes to ensure that their customers achieve Value Realization Events (VREs).<\/p>\n<p>Doing so communicates that these sales teams aren\u2019t simply interested in \u201cclosing the business,\u201d but are invested in their customers\u2019 success. This dramatically differentiates these teams from their \u201csell and run\u201d counterparts. Additionally, these sales teams improve the likelihood that their customers will renew their licenses, expand their footprint, and serve as references.<\/p>\n<p>Discussing and agreeing upon several VREs in <em>discovery<\/em> is the key to success!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>A Medical Analogy<\/h2>\n<p>In medicine, there are three elemental sets of information:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Diagnosis: An understanding of what is wrong<\/li>\n<li>Treatment: How to cure what is wrong<\/li>\n<li>Prognosis: What to expect in the future<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In business, we tend to be adequate at doing diagnosis (doing discovery), reasonably good at articulating treatments (solutions), but woefully poor at describing prognoses (building a vision of expected outcomes) other than in the vaguest sense! Outcome descriptions tend to be calculations of ultimate ROI numbers, suitable for convincing senior management to move forward with the proposed purchase, but with little other information about the actual journey.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine a doctor announcing, \u201cWell, you have a disease, we\u2019ll fix it with a treatment, and in about two years you should be back to normal!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOK,\u201d you respond, \u201cbut how will things be next week, next month, three months out, etc.? How long before I can eat regular food again? When will I be able to get the cast off? When will I be able to walk without using crutches?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These intermediate improvements are extremely important to you and your plans as a patient. In the same way, small wins by your customers using your software are equally important to your customers as they work towards their overall ROI.<\/p>\n<p>These small wins are Value Realization Events. Would you like some examples?<\/p>\n<h2>Value Realization Events<\/h2>\n<p>Value Realization Events, or VREs, represent small but significant improvements in your customers\u2019 processes, workflows, or deliverables. They are often expressed in terms of the first time your customer can accomplish something faster, better, or cheaper than they could previously. Improved visibility or reporting capabilities are frequent candidates. The first time a manual process is successfully completed in an automated fashion is another.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a starter list:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The first complete turn of the crank in a workflow (that was previously manual, painful, or impossible).<\/li>\n<li>Visibility into something that was previously invisible, vague, or took too long to obtain.<\/li>\n<li>A small productivity or efficiency gain (not the full ROI, just one small piece).<\/li>\n<li>Reporting (that couldn\u2019t be done before or took too long to produce).<\/li>\n<li>An alert for a problem or opportunity (that wasn\u2019t possible previously).<\/li>\n<li>The first time something painful or manual was avoided or replaced with automation.<\/li>\n<li>The first time something dangerous was avoided.<\/li>\n<li>Monitoring something that couldn\u2019t be monitored before (or was painfully difficult).<\/li>\n<li>The first \u201croot cause\u201d identified.<\/li>\n<li>The first time a problem doesn\u2019t recur.<\/li>\n<li>A collaboration that takes place (that couldn\u2019t be done before or was difficult).<\/li>\n<li>The first time a business process is completed in a fraction of the time it took previously.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Make a List<\/h2>\n<p>What VREs are possible or good representatives for <em>your<\/em> offerings? There are two ways to compile a list of examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Generate the list based on your existing knowledge and experiences with your offerings.<\/li>\n<li>Ask your <em>current<\/em> customers for ideas. When did <em>they<\/em> begin to realize value from using your software? What were the specific events and how long did it take before they enjoyed those gains?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each example should include both the VRE description along with the timeline for achievement. Generate as many candidates as you can!<\/p>\n<p>A simple brainstorming exercise with a few colleagues can be a good approach to building your list. I\u2019d recommend including folks from presales, sales, implementation, customer success, and marketing.<\/p>\n<h2>When to Discuss<\/h2>\n<p>Many <em>traditional<\/em> organizations never explore VREs with their customers. They often end up with their customer success teams struggling to convince customers to renew as the renewal dates approach.<\/p>\n<p>Some <em>good<\/em> vendors discuss VREs after go live has been accomplished. This is typically done by customer success and does represent an improvement over traditional practices.<\/p>\n<p>Truly <em>great<\/em> vendors introduce VREs during their <em>discovery<\/em> conversations: This is the <em>best<\/em> time for these discussions! Why? Two wonderful reasons:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Doing so enables significant advantages for implementation and customer success teams.<\/li>\n<li>Doing so <em>differentiates<\/em> convincingly from other non-VRE-aware vendors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Linking to Implementation and Customer Success<\/h2>\n<p>When you discuss and agree upon VREs in discovery, this information can (and should!) be passed from the sales team to implementation\/professional services. That way, implementation can (and should!) be done with a mind\u2019s eye toward enabling your customers to achieve their VREs as rapidly and confidently as possible.<\/p>\n<p>This means that any required installation, configuration, customization, and training should be done with specific goals to empower your customers to complete their VREs with minimal friction. Doing this during implementation can advance or accelerate VRE achievement significantly in comparison to traditional practices.<\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s next after implementation\/professional services? Why, customer success, of course!<\/p>\n<p>Your sales team can (and should!) pass VRE information to customer success even <em>before<\/em> go live takes place. This enables customer success to support your customers\u2019 journeys towards VRE attainment right from their initial interactions. What a terrific <a href=\"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/crisp-currency-of-discovery-communication\/\">handoff<\/a>!<\/p>\n<h2>Convincing Differentiation<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s return to the discovery phase of your sales process (or buying process). You\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes\/dp\/B0B8RJK4C2\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1U8XAZMG8HBYK&amp;keywords=doing+discovery&amp;qid=16599\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explored<\/a> your prospect\u2019s pains, impact, value, culture, demographics, and other elements, and you\u2019ve articulated the framework of a solution. Your prospect is engaged and interested. At this point, most vendors end discovery and start drafting a proposal.<\/p>\n<p>But instead, dear reader, you say, \u201cNow that you have a picture of what a solution might look like, should we discuss how and when you can begin to gain some small wins, after you go live?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Your prospect responds, \u201cWhy, yes, what a terrific idea!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is the <em>best<\/em> time to discuss VREs and doing so tells your prospect that you aren\u2019t only interested in getting the order (and of course you <em>are<\/em>) but are <em>also<\/em> truly interested in your prospect\u2019s success! This can (and does!) delightfully differentiate from the traditional and good salespeople we described above.<\/p>\n<h2>Another Perspective<\/h2>\n<p>Imagine that <em>you<\/em> are a customer who just made a major software purchase amounting to several hundred thousand dollars. An immense pressure descends upon your shoulders: the responsibility of realizing the return on that investment!<\/p>\n<p>Is that pressure released when you issue the purchase order? Nope! That\u2019s when it is heaviest.<\/p>\n<p>Is that pressure released when you go live? Nope! It\u2019s better, but it&#8217;s still just the beginning of the journey.<\/p>\n<p>When <em>does<\/em> that pressure begin to be mitigated? When you announce to your management and the balance of the team, \u201cHey, we were just able to (insert VRE) for the first time \u2013 we\u2019re now beginning to get real value from our investment!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the <em>full<\/em> ROI, but it represents a significant success. <em>That\u2019s<\/em> when the pressure begins to be released.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cYou\u2019re Actually Interested in Our Success\u2026!\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>I was in the latter stages of a discovery conversation with a prospect some years ago and was introducing several VRE options when my prospect said, \u201cOh! You\u2019re actually interested in our success\u2026!\u201d They commented that they\u2019d never encountered that type of discussion before. A few weeks later, they completed their purchasing process of our software.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, during an implementation meeting, the prospect told me that our offering wasn\u2019t perceived as the best option in terms of features and functions. They said it was \u201cadequate, but not the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked, \u201cWell, why did you go with us?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They responded, \u201cIt\u2019s what I said in our meeting a few weeks ago: You <em>proved<\/em> that you are actually interested in our success and established the pathway for us to achieve it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VREs are an advanced, yet simple technique to differentiate delightfully, enable your customers to achieve key early wins, facilitate renewals, and pave the way for future expansion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2024 The Second Derivative \u2013 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n<p>To learn the methods introduced above, consider enrolling in a Great Demo! Doing Discovery or Demonstration Skills <a href=\"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/training\/\">Workshop<\/a>. For more demo and discovery tips, best practices, tools and techniques, explore our <a href=\"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/learn\/books\/\">books<\/a>, blog and articles on the Resources pages of our website at <a href=\"https:\/\/GreatDemo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/GreatDemo.com<\/a> and join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2430414\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Great Demo! &amp; Doing Discovery LinkedIn Group<\/a> to learn from others and share your experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEvery diagnosis and treatment need a corresponding prognosis\u2026!\u201d \u2013 Me Wouldn\u2019t it be a delight to dramatically differentiate in discovery? It\u2019s easy! Once your<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-35539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-methodology_basics","category-great-demo-blog","tag-articles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35541,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35539\/revisions\/35541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}