“For women looking to grow their businesses, getting venture capital funding can be a big challenge,” says Julie Thomas, sharing one of the barriers female leaders face: Only 3 percent of VC money goes to female-only founded startups.
But Thomas, CEO of the global sales training company ValueSelling Associates, argues that those who learn how to sell their organization’s value are best positioned to win.
She knows something about the topic. ValueSelling offers sales training and coaching to some of the world’s biggest brands—from Google, Hitachi Energy and Lenovo, to Okta, Johnson and Johnson Vision and Kimberly-Clark Professional. Some of the organization’s innovations include ValueCoach AI, which she calls “the first value-based artificial intelligence sales coaching tool.”
ValueSelling, based in Carlsbad, California, has expanded globally, delivering programs across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, in more than 17 local languages and on local sites. “Using our global resources, we conduct large-scale trainings as single, simultaneous events that span multiple continents and cultures,” she says.
Thomas spoke with Women Leaders Connect about her work, why sales matters and how women in particular can benefit from honing that expertise.
You recently launched Growist, a new sub-brand of ValueSelling Associates, designed specifically for solopreneurs, small business owners and founders seeking to grow their businesses sustainably. What are some of the key pointers that you share with them?
Most solopreneurs and founders launch their businesses with a vision, a great service or product and their industry expertise—yet most don’t have a background in sales. They often find themselves stepping into the role of chief revenue officer, alongside being CEO, and quickly realize that without sales, deals don’t close.
This dual responsibility highlights a common challenge: Although they excel at delivering value to clients, many lack formal training in engaging prospective customers to uncover problems and selling the value of their products or services.
Invest in yourself and your business by learning a proven sales framework and value-based selling techniques to build stronger client relationships, confidently close deals and drive business growth.
Do you have particular advice for women business owners?
My advice for women business owners is to uncover your business’ value and how to communicate it. Globally, women are more likely to be solopreneurs than men, with 1.47 women solopreneurs for every man, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring Report on Women’s Entrepreneurship.
Yet, for women looking to grow their businesses, getting venture capital funding can be a big challenge. Only 3 percent of VC money goes to female-only founded startups, according to Forbes.
I encourage women to prepare as much as possible by learning to identify their business’s value and how to sell based on that value. This will help overcome the misperception among predominantly male investors that woman-founded businesses are riskier investments.
And remember, “selling” isn’t only about products and services—it can also mean convincing employees to join your company, partners to go to market with you and investors to believe in your idea.
You’ve written for a number of major media outlets and are a book author, most recently of The Power of Value Selling: The Gold Standard to Drive Revenue and Create Customers for Life. What are some of your favorite topics?
Sharing sales strategies and advice with revenue leaders, sales reps and entrepreneurs is one way I’m working to make the sales profession better as a whole.
Some of my favorite and most read topics include how integrating AI and training is a game-changer for sales teams, competing effectively on value, not price, and the power of value selling to close the gap between how buyers want to buy and how sellers want to sell.
I also enjoy writing about how sales professionals can gain access and sell to the C-Suite; why entrepreneurs and small business owners need to learn how to sell, steps to prep your business for unpredictable market conditions, and the power of the human-to-human connection in sales.
What advice do you have for aspiring young women sales professionals just starting their careers?
Say “yes.” Don’t underestimate any opportunity that is offered to you. Early in my career, I said “yes” to relocation, even when it felt uncertain. I said “yes” to territories that didn’t seem ideal. I said “yes” to a promotion that took me out of direct sales for a few years. Each of those opportunities played a critical role in accelerating my career.
Saying “yes” wasn’t easy at times—it was often difficult and even a little scary—but without those opportunities, my journey would have looked very different. You never know the destination of where a single “yes” might lead.
Another piece of advice is to learn how to gain access to the C-Suite. Getting your foot in the door is often the hardest part of building fruitful relationships with senior executives. It can be incredibly challenging to determine who you should be talking to, and once you do, it’s not unusual to feel a little intimidated about reaching out.
But once you’ve identified the real decision-makers and found a way to access them, you’ll be set up to get a real understanding of their needs—and on your way to closing deals.
