Ian Campbell is the author of Wall Street Journal Best Seller "The Value Sale". As Chief Executive Officer of Nucleus Research he is responsible for the company’s investigative research approach, product set, and overall corporate direction. He is a recognized expert on the return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis of technology and has written and presented extensively on a range of organizational topics and the importance of matching technology to business organizational objectives.

In this episode, Ian shares how you can create optimal pricing by understanding how customers use your product and find value in them.

 

What you will learn from this episode:

• Learn how to quantify a product's value in measurable terms
• Find out the three value propositions you can derive from when helping people find and understand their product's value
• Discover how to restructure your conversations to help people recognize the value you offer and you get empowered to price that value

 

“Look at the customer value, how is the customer achieving value from your product and price according to that.” 

- Ian Campbell

 

Topics Covered:

01:42 - How he got into pricing

02:23 - What Nucleus Research is all about

03:26 - Understanding value with how customers use the product rather than vendor claims

05:20 - Defining Value

06:48 - The challenge with quantifying ROI with non-monetary value [customers' happiness]

09:00 - Thoughts on Mark's statement about B2B being more cognizant of value they want to receive

10:05 - Translating 'happier employees' into quantifiable terms

11:19 - Selling risk and who bears the most burden in dealing with security threats

15:32 - What's it like selling for emotional reasons

19:14 - How emotional decisions relate to Danny Kahneman's decision-making theories

20:29 - Why he uses the three-year horizon [but what if a client insist on using a 5-year time frame]

24:00 - Why there are only three value propositions you can derive from

26:15 - Helping people [existing and new customers] find value in your product

28:22 - How to structure your conversation that people understands and find value in your product

29:50 - Ian’s pricing advice

 

Key Takeaways:

"Technology is around delivering value, not necessarily what's the best, but what's the best for you and understanding that." - Ian Campbell

"When you talk about value, we look at value in four different categories, and there are value categories that are for instance happier employees. And that's not something I can necessarily quantify, but for a customer and for a company, that could be something very, very valuable for them and that could be their objective." - Ian Campbell

"Today, more than ever, it's important to draw a link between what you sell and how you deliver bottom line benefits. Otherwise, you're going to have a tougher time beating out not just your competitors, but all of the other projects they could be doing." - Ian Campbell

"If you're selling with value, realize that value is a tool to help you sell. Value is not a consulting project, don't turn it into a consulting project. Turn it into a tool that helps you close the deal." - Ian Campbell

 

People/Resources Mentioned:

• Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahnemanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com
• Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/enhttps://www.gartner.com/e
• Forrester: https://www.forrester.com/boldhttps://www.forrester.com/bold

 

Connect with Ian Campbell:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iancampbellnucleusresearch/
• Email: [email protected]

 

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: [email protected]