5 Reasons Showing ROI Enables Sellers to Win New Business

Today’s modern sellers leverage so many techniques and technologies when closing new business that it’s hard to pinpoint what makes the sale. It could be an outstanding demo, a glowing reference, or your discovery-based sales process, but with longer sales cycles and more buyer touchpoints, the reason a deal closes has become increasingly difficult to identify.

One fool-proof way to create more value for your prospects and propel deals forward is to demonstrate ROI to the prospect early in the sales cycle. By including an ROI calculator among your sales tools, reps can demonstrate ROI to strengthen your business case, accelerate decision-making, and significantly improve your ability to close business. According to Forrester Research¹, 74% of buyers choose to work with the first sales rep who adds value, yet only 8% of buyers believe their sales interactions are constructive.

Showing ROI through data-driven insights should be a core part of any successful sales process. Almost every buyer is cost-sensitive, and every organization wants to get the most value for their investment. Demonstrating ROI illustrates this value and helps accelerate a buyer’s decision to purchase.

Most importantly, sellers need to ensure the demonstrated ROI is customized to reflect the buyer’s specific needs. As the discovery process helps reveal key pain points and opportunities for growth, creating a highly personalized business case for the buyer will show you’re listening and bringing value to the interaction.

Sales reps that conduct expert discovery can create detailed output reports illustrating the benefits of implementing your solution. Be sure to include messaging and data that demonstrate to buyers how their investment will solve for identified business challenges. This enables consultative and dynamic conversations between buyers and sellers that lead to informed decision-making.

1. Showing ROI helps buyers justify and obtain budget approval.

If a budget has not yet been established for a new project, an ROI calculator will help guide a budget for approval. If a budget has already been determined for the project, an ROI calculator provides clear insight into the time it will take to see results and an impact on the bottom line. Showing ROI across all solutions or products can be useful when buyers are hesitant to take on your entire suite of solutions. Using an interactive calculator can show ROI throughout the lifecycle of the product, even if buyers add additional products or solutions over time.

2. Showing ROI supports quantitative and qualitative analysis.

In addition to justifying the investment, an ROI calculator produces data that leads to strategic conversations that inform and encourage buyers to make a purchase. When sellers demonstrate a direct correlation between your product and achieving their organizational goals, buyers become advocates for your solution when they take the information back to leadership for approval.

3. Showing ROI demonstrates the risk of delayed decision-making.

Organizations seek new solutions when one or many challenges arise that cannot be fixed internally. Whether they’re plagued by poor productivity or are missing revenue targets, challenged professionals are motivated to take action and find a solution to overcome their problems.

An ROI calculator establishes a direct link between perceived problems and individual and/or organizational performance. It demonstrates the cost of delaying a decision and that strategic goals and performance cannot improve without action. When buyers analyze the cost of delay vs. the proposed investment in a solution, the decision to purchase becomes easier.

4. Showing ROI establishes credibility through industry data.

ROI calculators are populated with comprehensive industry benchmarks and data. Familiarity with this data reinforces the seller knows the buyer’s industry and is creating a tailored buying experience to meet his or her needs. In fact, 95% of buyers say that want benchmarking and insights to measure their effectiveness against industry standards².

5. Showing ROI delivers a specialized presentation of ROI.

Using third-party data within your ROI calculator produces accurate and credible insights and helps your sellers to make a stronger and more persuasive business case. Personalizing the data as well as you can using the information obtained throughout your discovery goes a long way with buyers when they cannot reveal confidential information about their organization during the sales process.

Demonstrating ROI using an ROI calculator and creating a customized business case should be two core elements of any professional sales process. Sales reps are empowered by interactive toolsets that distinguish their offering from the competition, establish your credibility as a trustworthy consultant, and strengthen your position in your industry and marketplace.

For maximum benefit, interactive sales tools like ROI calculators should be integrated with your organization’s sales enablement strategy. This offers your sellers the ability to capture imperative customer data in both your sales enablement solution and CRM for seamless follow up and to help inform future content and presentations. Customized sales presentations engage the buyer in a way that has them looking forward to the next sales interaction because they know it will be valuable.

Sources:
1. “How B2B Sellers Win in the Age of the Customer.” pp. 1-14, 2016, Forrester Research.
2. “2016 Content Preferences Survey: B2B Buyers Value Content That Offers Data And Analysis.” Demand Gen Report, 2016.