The manufacturing industry is vast, encompassing a wide variety of products and services tailored to specific industries and customer needs. But whether your sales team is selling industrial machinery and equipment, building materials, or automotive components, you share some common challenges.
Although supply chains have rightsized since the pandemic, many manufacturers are dealing with increased customer choice, greater competition, and compressed margins. OEMs and distributors need to be even better sellers now, understand value, and know what’s important to the customer.
Sales professionals in B2B industries can use a value-based selling approach to overcome pricing conditions and margins that have changed to your detriment. This enables you to shift the conversation from product features and price to the tangible benefit your solutions can provide.
By quantifying potential benefits, addressing specific customer needs, and demonstrating a deep understanding of the customer’s business, your sellers can differentiate themselves, command premium pricing, and build long-lasting relationships based on trust and value creation.
Here’s how a value-based selling approach can help manufacturing sales professionals overcome their most pressing challenges.
How to Overcome 8 Manufacturing Sales Challenges
Challenge 1: Intense Competition
Supply chains have normalized since the pandemic. Your customers now have more options, and the industrial sector has become more competitive. Sales professionals need to differentiate their products or services and effectively communicate their unique value propositions to stand out from the competition.
Value Selling Technique: By focusing on the benefit rather than just the product features or price, sales professionals can position their offerings as unique and tailored solutions that address specific customer needs. This can help them stand out from competitors who are competing solely on price or specifications.
Challenge 2. Changing Customer Demands
Customers in the manufacturing space are becoming increasingly demanding—seeking competitive pricing, customized solutions, better quality, and faster delivery times. Sales professionals must stay updated with evolving customer needs and tailor their offerings accordingly.
Value Selling Technique: A value selling approach involves deeply understanding the customer’s business, objectives, and pain points. By aligning their solutions with the customer’s desired outcomes and demonstrating how their offerings can create tangible value (e.g., increased productivity, cost savings, improved quality), sales professionals can better meet evolving customer demands.
Challenge 3. Pricing Pressures
Manufacturers face increasing pressure to keep prices competitive amid shrinking margins, especially since the pandemic. In commodity-based industries or when selling to large customers with significant bargaining power, sales professionals must balance profitability with competitive pricing strategies.
Value Selling Technique: Instead of engaging in a race to the bottom on pricing, value selling allows sales professionals to justify premium pricing by highlighting the unique benefit their solutions deliver. They can demonstrate how the benefits and long-term cost savings outweigh the initial investment.
Challenge 4. Supply Chain Management
Supply and demand have changed post-Covid. In just a few years, supply chains that had been extremely limited are now back to normal. Sales professionals need to understand the complexities of margins, sourcing, production, and logistics to ensure timely delivery and meet customer expectations while maintaining profitability.
Value Selling Technique: By understanding the customer’s supply chain challenges and offering solutions that optimize processes, reduce lead times, or improve inventory management, sales professionals can create worth beyond just the product itself.
Challenge 5. Talent Acquisition and Retention
Attracting and retaining skilled sales talent can be challenging in construction and industrial machinery and services, particularly for technical or specialized product lines. Sales professionals with deep industry knowledge and technical expertise are highly valuable.
Value Selling Technique: A value-selling approach requires a deep understanding of the customer’s industry, technical expertise, and the ability to consultatively solve problems. By fostering a culture of value creation and continuous learning, manufacturers can attract and retain top sales talent.
Challenge 6. Globalization
With the rise of globalization, sales professionals in manufacturing often need to navigate cultural differences, language barriers, and varying regulatory frameworks when operating in international markets.
Value Selling Technique: When operating on a global scale, value selling can help sales professionals navigate cultural differences by focusing on value creation. They can tailor their messaging to resonate with local market needs and highlight the benefits that transcend cultural boundaries.
Challenge 7. Technical Advancements
The industrial and manufacturing sectors are constantly evolving due to technological advancements such as automation, digital transformation, and the adoption of Industry 4.0 digital technologies. Sales professionals need to stay up to date with these advancements and understand how they can enhance their products and services.
Value Selling Technique: By showcasing how their products or services leverage the latest technologies to drive efficiency, innovation, or competitive advantages, sales professionals can demonstrate the benefit they bring to customers in the face of constant technological innovation.
Challenge 8. Complex Sales Cycles
Many manufacturing products and solutions involve intricate technical specifications, long lead times, and multiple decision-makers within the buying organization. Sales professionals need to manage these complex sales cycles effectively, build long-term relationships, and navigate the decision-making process skillfully.
Value Selling Technique: In complex sales cycles with multiple decision-makers, a value-selling approach can help sales professionals build a compelling business case that resonates with different stakeholders. By quantifying the potential return on investment (ROI) and highlighting the long-term value creation, they can better navigate the decision-making process.
How Manufacturing Sales Leaders Can Implement a Value-Selling Approach
Sales teams in manufacturing need to continuously adapt, develop their skills, leverage technology, and foster strong relationships with customers and partners. Sales leaders of industrial sales teams can use these consultative selling strategies to foster a value-selling approach and drive success.
Use a Value-Based Sales Process
Establish a structured sales process that focuses on identifying customer needs, tailoring messaging, and demonstrating the long-term benefits of your solutions. Provide sales tools, templates, and best practices to support this process.
Invest in Product and Industry Knowledge
Ensure your sales team has a comprehensive understanding of your products and services—and their applications across various industries. Encourage continuous learning-and-development programs to stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices.
Leverage Data and Analytics
Use data and analytics to identify customer pain points, uncover opportunities for value creation, and quantify the potential impact of your solutions. Equip your sales team with tools and resources to build compelling business cases and ROI models.
Support with Sales Coaching and Feedback
Regularly coach and mentor your sales team, providing constructive feedback on their value-selling techniques. Encourage them to share success stories, best practices, and lessons learned from their interactions with customers.
Build a Consultative Sales Culture
Instill a consultative, customer-focused mindset throughout your sales team. Encourage them to deeply understand the customer’s business, challenges, and desired outcomes. Provide sales training on value-based selling techniques, such as consultative selling, solution selling, and ROI analysis.
Embrace Technology and Innovation
Stay up to date with technological advancements in your industry and explore how your sales team can leverage tools such as virtual reality, augmented reality, or digital twins to showcase the worth of your products and services in innovative ways.
Align Sales Incentives and Recognition
Ensure your incentive and recognition programs are aligned with value-based selling objectives. Reward sales achievements that demonstrate value creation, customer satisfaction, and long-term customer relationships.
Share Customer Success Stories
Capture and share customer success stories that showcase how your solutions have created value for clients. Use these case studies as powerful examples to reinforce the value-selling approach and inspire your sales team.
Improve Continuously
Encourage a mindset of continuous improvement within your sales team. Regularly review and refine your value-selling strategies based on customer feedback, market trends, and performance metrics. Provide continuous sales training and reinforcement to develop selling skills and keep team members up to date.
By implementing these recommendations, you can empower your manufacturing sales team to adopt a value-selling approach, differentiate your offerings, and build lasting relationships with customers based on trust, value creation, and mutual success.
Get More Info About Value-Based Manufacturing Sales Training
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Success Story
The Brooks Group Equips Hitachi Energy Team to Handle Difficult Conversations
Hitachi Energy partnered with The Brooks Group Sales Consulting Services for a customized solution. Using a customized, consultative process that included psychometric assessments and extensive discovery, The Brooks Group developed a comprehensive program of content, messaging, training, roleplaying, and coaching that was tailored to the team’s specific needs.
