Rob Howes (Co-founder of Enterprise Sales Club) recently interviewed Jayd McFerson; Jayd is a veteran Value Consulting Leader in the software industry. Currently the Head of Value Consulting at Collibra, a leading data intelligence software company.

Previously he held similar roles at ServiceNow, Workday, Pivotal, and Oracle. The Value Consulting role is important to help customers & prospects to identify, define and quantify the business value of implementing a software solution.

Jayd shared great insight on how to succeed and close large deals during a pandemic. This episode is a stellar guide on how to use value consulting to identify “business outcomes”, the process of unlocking funds and a new take on how to position and maintain credibility.

1) Introduction - tell me about your career path to value consulting?

· Jayd did an Accounting major and Psychology minor degree. Yet he has made a career leading with Human Psychology to build value. The accounting coming last.

· Fell into value consulting, result of a failed pre-sales interview.

2) What are the trends that you are seeing in SaaS sales today?

· Good companies still invest in difficult times.

· Still plenty of money if you look at the income statement of many companies.

· To get funds you need to:

A) Find a prioritised problem.

B) Validate that the customer fundamentally believes you can solve.

C) See the difference that solution will make.

3) Why is selling business value so important, what are the key benefits to the seller?

· No one gets a deal unless funds are released. We’re often seeking budget sign-off from people higher than the level we’re talking to.

· Jayd has utmost respect for people who carry a quota.

· What does it take to get the attention of the budget holder? Problem big enough to solve.

· CFO “If I tried to solve every problem in this business, we would be bankrupt.” It’s important to prioritise the problems.

· Our key objectives are “get the deal”, quickly followed by timing and size.

· With a smaller pipeline, your win rate needs to improve, so providing business value really matters.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose at Enterprise Sales Club is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]