Cisco Services are most attractive to customers when they are sold as value-added feature
available with the hardware. In making your case, you’ll want to use the value selling
approach, which emphasizes the value, positive impact, and return on investment that
services can have on your customer. Using this approach, you will be able to proactively
work with your customers to:
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Developing an accurate understanding of your customer’s organization and goals
Being viewed as a partner and strategic consultant rather than “just another
vendor”
Penetrating accounts at executive level with a value-based message early in the
sales cycle
Overcoming pricing objections easily by using ROI data to help CFOs and other
finance/purchasing agents understand the impact of service on their bottom line
Preempting the competition to maximize product absorption by providing a
complete, end-to-end offering that includes both hardware and services
A solid methodology for winning services contract renewals and selling additional
services offerings to existing customers
Step 1 – Identify Business and Network Objectives
Get your customers talking about the business and network objectives they have
established for the current year. By doing so, you can ensure that the service programs
that you offer will meet your customer’s needs from both strategic and network
perspectives.
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Potential business objectives you might hear: Reducing operating expenditures /
Becoming more competitive in certain markets
Potential network objectives you might hear: Driving productivity and
improvement across the network /Improving mean time to restore /Increasing
network stability and availability
Step 2 – Ask Questions to Uncover Customer Business and Network Pain Points
The next step to value selling is to focus on the business and network “pain” that your
customer is experiencing in achieving their strategic objectives. Without pain, your
customer’s organization will not be as willing to adopt a solution to change or address it.
To uncover a customer’s pain, you must position yourself as a consultant, and not as a
salesperson. Salespeople come to initial meetings with customers with PowerPoint slides,
brochures, and other detailed materials to discuss or “cram” down the customer’s throat.
Consultants come with a prepared list of questions, a blank notepad to take notes, and an
inquisitive mind focused on learning about the customer’s environment and issues.
Ask your customers technical support related questions that will get them talking about
networking technology issues they experience that Cisco Services can address.
Step 3 – Create a Service Vision with the Customer
Next, work with your customer to create a vision of how the pain points can be
addressed. It may be helpful to list the key pain points mentioned by your customer and
the corresponding vision in a tabular format as for many customers, a visual aide helps
focus their attention and makes the pain they discussed more tangible.
Pain
Vision
Limited in-house expertise or
technical experts
Improve in-house expertise and access to
Technical experts
Increased downtime
Reduce downtime, increase availability and
Stability of network
OS and application software are not
current
Upgrade/update operating system and application
software
Step 4 – Map Service Offerings to Fulfill the Vision
In the next step, use your knowledge of Cisco Services and your own service offerings to
map key service deliverables to fulfill the customer’s vision. In many cases, it can be
helpful for you to articulate this vision with your customer in terms of “when”, “who”,
and “what.” For example:
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When experiencing network degradation or downtime, what if your technical
experts could immediately access troubleshooting tools and technical
documentation via the Cisco.com online tools and resources available via the
Cisco Services program?
When a piece of equipment or part fails, what if you could receive advance
delivery of replacement equipment within one of the 2-hour, 4-hour, or Next
Business Day delivery options available within the Cisco Services program? By
mapping service offerings to the vision statements made by your customer, you
can clearly demonstrate the value of service and help customers understand
clearly how these services will assist the company in addressing the pain points
that stand in the way of achieving its business objectives.
Step 5 – Quantify Service Benefits in Financial Terms
The next step is to help your customer see the overall impact of the solution on their
bottom line. Many customers will want to see this in terms of return on investment (ROI).
By using business, product, and network data supplied by your customers, you can
provide your customers with the financial data they will need to obtain sign-off from both
senior executives and purchasing/finance agents when making financial decisions about
new purchases.
Step 6 – Communicate the Value of Service Throughout the customer’s entire
Organization
The next step is to position the value of services appropriately with key individuals
within the customer’s organization. For example, the CFO’s perception will be different
from that of the CIO. To make the value of services more visible, use value statements
that are relevant to the business function and organizational level of each stakeholder.
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CFO: Cost Reduction / Revenue Growth / Investment Decisions (e.g. lease vs
purchase, outsource vs in-house) / productivity / Efficiency / Infrastructure
Improvement
CIO: Knowledge transfer / Cost Reduction / Increase Network Availability /
Effective, faster implementations / Performance improvement / Higher Staff
productivity / Life Cycle Management / Infrastructure strengthening and business
enablement.
Step 7 – Leverage Tools and Extended Team Members to help close the deal
Next, look for ways to leverage extended team members on your staff when appropriate
to help close the deal. Other individuals in your company frequently engage with
customers as well. Based on their interactions, they may be able to provide you with
additional information or contacts that will help you win the sale.
Here is an example of internal resources and the information/assistance they could
provide:
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Account Managers: Names of key contacts/resources within the customer’s
organization / Perspective on the relationship with customer and the personalities
within the customer’s organization /Information specific to the customer’s vision
and business drivers /Knowledge of customer’s budget or network strategies for
next year.
Sales or Systems Engineers: Information on the customer’s infrastructure and
technical capability /Information on the customer’s network or the technologies
that the customer is looking to implement in the next fiscal year / Understanding
of the skill set or expertise of current IT resources.
Step 8 – Establish Regular Communications to Promote Value of Service
You may have closed a sale with your customer that included the purchase of Cisco
Services and/or your service program. However, your involvement with the customer is
far from over. The final step in the Value Selling Approach is to keep your customer
abreast of the impact that service offerings are having on their organization through
regular post sale communications.