Just what is "Value Marketing & Selling"?

"We've spent a lot of money on consultants that have not come close to the value received from your Tufts students working with us this semester!"   

What's above is a direct quote this week from the VP of Marketing of a well-established healthcare analytics company with deeply experienced management and this was his comment to me and his project team upon completing their 13-week semester.  

  • Makes me feel great, but I'm merely the professor who provides content and 6 complex projects
  • It provides our students with the reality of a reward for their very hard work over 3 months.
  • It provides immediate value since management provides 40% of their project grade
  • It solidifies a core pillar that we teach of "value marketing", "value selling" and "value pricing"

All about the value received, not about the product or its price!

In a classroom, deep in the science of marketing and sales, we're able to bring together real-life experts (all of whom are alums from this course) who are hand-on practitioners to both teach and run experiments in six companies per course. Couple that with the fact that we provide a foundational platform for detailed life and business lessons in creating and delivering value propositions, how to deliver value pricing plus a long list of both Inbound and Outbound Marketing tools and tactics, and it's not a surprise that 100% of our students coming out of this course have high-paying and rewarding jobs. 

Tufts Spring 2022 LEDThe picture to the left is the project team from one of the final presentations this week along with the VP of Sales & Marketing for their project company, whose comments in summing up the semester's work were captured in that one value statement that we love to hear:

"you far exceeded our expectations"

Add to that the best example of a net-promoter-score in his request to do a follow-on project for  the upcoming fall semester to take this work to the next level.  



Each semester I take out of the classroom the results of our work, and immediately see their applications in everything I touch in the business world of marketing and sales where value provided counts far more than price and the archaic tactics of having a salesperson "stop by and have coffee".  

  • Netflix couldn't figure out their competitive value, and lost 2 million subscribers in Q1
  • Ford's 150 Lightning received 200,000 orders since January far outpacing any other truck
  • Apple and Google continue to reinvent, exceed expectations and be "best places to work"

It looks like a great weather weekend which will find me deep in my VT woodlot with both my trusty gas-fired Stihl 20" chainsaw, now accompanied by my less expensive, lighter and equally powered battery-powered Ryobi.  The value is not the lesser price since the rechargeable Ryobi batteries, which last for an hour are expensive, and I need three.  The very personal value is that I am tired of continuously damaging my shoulder with the kickback of the starter cord when the Stihl doesn't start.  Compare 5 minutes of trying-to-start time and constant shoulder damage to the push of a button.  That's value marketing, selling and pricing all in one! I could care less about the price.

So, what's the value you're providing to your customers?   

Think about that for 30 minutes this weekend. 

Jack Derby, Tufts Professor & Sales Coach

At any time, if you want to kick your answer around with me, just connect for some quick ideas and feedback. There's no cost to a call or two, plus I love listening and talking about the new world of sales and marketing.  Or you can come out and work in the woodlot tomorrow 😁, and we can spend the day talking through a few ideas,

Enjoy the weekend!

www.derbymanagement.com  

Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts. 

 

 

 

Tags: sales coaching, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, marketing effectiveness, how to close sales, Tufts marketing projects, interns for marketing projects, how to write a marketing plan, how to write a sales plan, sales readiness, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, 2022businessplansuccess