I'm Tony Allardyce, founder of Sales Solutions Ltd.

My aha moment with Value Proposition happened about 25 years ago.

I ran a division for a New Zealand organisation which had responsibility for winning and retaining many of the country’s largest corporate clients.

One of the largest of those had signed, or was about to sign, a deal with one of our competitors and had provided us with notice.

Losing the account was not an option. It would have made national news, provided a massive boost to the competitor and, potentially, been the catalyst for other accounts to follow.

For days and nights, we brain-stormed as many reasons as we could to cause the customer to stay. When we’d exhausted all possibilities, we dug deeper and came up with more.

The moment of truth came.

I met with the CEO over lunch at a restaurant in One Tree Hill in Auckland.
We sat down and exchanged pleasantries.

I knew this was very much a case of closing the door after the horse had bolted. However, I had a plan and felt as prepared as I could be.

The plan failed to materialise. I didn’t manage to put forward any of the reasons we had come up with.

The CEO and I connected straight away. He had things on his mind he wanted to talk about. It had nothing to do with work. He discussed testing personal matters to do with his family and health.

If I’m anything, I’m a genuine person. I took a real interest and showed empathy. I was sincere. I didn’t say a lot. I listened hard to the pain. I felt for him and he could see that.

I needed to bring the conversation around to business but was running out of time.

And, then, it happened!

He looked at his watch and said ‘I’m sorry, I have to go’.

I’d let myself, the team and the company down.

About a week later, we received the news the client had decided to remain with us, with provisos. The decision was against all odds. I remember the feeling of shock more than I do relief.

I learned:
• The power the salesperson themself has to cause the customer to buy/stay or walk away
• That sales and retention are about more than product and service alone
• That emotion forms a part of every sales transaction - because we’re human
• That people buy people before they buy product
• That, typically, we use a fraction of the wider value proposition we have available to us and the consequences of that

I have had a successful record of sales and sales management achievement from knocking on doors, through to various sales and sales management roles across consumer to consumer, business to consumer and business to business.

I have attended more sales training and sales management programs than I can remember.

From a sales perspective, nothing has had as much impact on sales outcomes for myself, my teams and my employers than the work I've done to create strong, compelling value propositions for more than two decades. It's very powerful.

As such, my mission is to use that experience to make ‘Why Would I Buy From You’ as accessible to as many people and as many businesses as possible.

I do this through the vehicle Sales Solutions Limited.

Come on board. It worked for me. I’ll make it work for you. No excuses.