The value-based sales approach—design process, tools and needed capabilities to create a solution

Being a solution provider differs significantly from being an industrial product manufacturer, as solution sales necessitate value-based selling techniques. In order to succeed in solution sales, sellers have to change their way of doing business by seeking to understand customer problems and communicating how their solution generates higher profits for the customer. The findings show that companies lack the tools and managerial capabilities to transform their organization into one that solves customer problems. We present a value-based sales approach to enable industrial companies to address customer problems and enhance customer certainty in that added value. Design thinking was applied to guide the process of identifying, co-creating and confirming customer-perceived value. The sales process and its relevant tools were developed in collaboration with our company partners in the DIMECC REBUS program.