AI-Driven Value Management

Foreword xiii

Introduction xv

Chapter 1 Introduction to AI-Driven Value Management 1

A Brief History of Value Management 2

The Evolution of AI 3

Modern Corporate Governance—Raising the Bar on Capital Investments 5

Rethinking Customer Relationships 6

The Road to Customer First 7

Resource Barriers 9

Scaling Out Value Management 10

Introducing the Value Management Life Cycle 10

Your Guide to Achieving 8X Company Revenue Outcomes 11

Chapter 2 The Current State of Value Management 13

Understanding the Fundamentals of Business Value 13

Product Features vs. Value Messaging 14

How Value Beats Features: An Industry Success Story 15

The Modern Corporate Buying Process 16

The Rise of PMOs 18

Building a Value-Based Narrative: The Business Case 20

Three Phases in Building a Business Case 20

A Simple Home Purchase Example: Solar Panels 26

Beyond Case Studies 27

Understanding the Customer Life Cycle 28

Go-to-Market Collaboration: The Key to Value Management Success 28

Solution Value Messaging 30

Value Models 31

The Value Opportunity Stage (Awareness + Interest) 31

The Value Target Stage (Interest + Purchase) 33

The Value Realization Stage (Adoption) 34

The Value Expansion Stage (Renewal) 36

Chapter 3 Building the Future Value Management Program 39

The Game Changer: Artificial Intelligence 39

AI: Past, Present, and Future 40

AI-VM: Competitive Advantage at Scale 41

Introducing a Blueprint for AI-Value Management 42

Chapter 4 AI-Driven Value Management for Marketing 47

Empowering B2B Marketing with AI-Enabled Value Management 48

The Current State of B2B Marketing 49

Product Marketing: Account-Based Marketing Barriers to Scale 50

Revenue Marketing: Large Nets and High Costs 53

Digital Marketing Challenges 54

Event Marketing Challenges 55

Corporate Marketing: Siloed Function, Limited ROI Visibility 56

The Current State of Value Management in Marketing 59

What’s Next: Value Management Marketing Powered by AI 61

The New Product Marketer: Enhancing Solution Positioning with Value Intelligence 62

The New Revenue Marketer: Automating and Scaling ABM with Value Intelligence 66

Improving Digital Demand-Gen “Targeting” Using Value Intelligence 69

Using Value Intelligence to Create a Demand-Gen “Hook” 71

Boosting the ROI of Corporate Events and Trade Shows 73

Leveraging AI-Driven Value Intelligence Content 74

Individualized Participant Experiences 75

Interactive Booth Experiences 76

The New Corporate Marketer: Creating a Value Intelligence ABM Approach to Sponsorships 76

Smarter marketing investments 78

Chapter 5 AI-Driven Value Management for Sales 81

Getting Started with Value Management for Sales in Start-ups and Small Companies 83

Building VM Capabilities with People: Small, High-Powered Team Focused on Top Deals 84

Building VM Capabilities with Process: Manual Value Management Programs 84

Building VM Capabilities with Technology: Value Automation Platforms Can Increase Business Case Productivity 86

Building Deal Coverage and Customer Outcomes 87

From Art to Craft to Practice: How Value Management Programs Support Mature Sales Organizations 88

Building VM Capabilities with People: Creating an Independent Function for Value Management 88

Building VM Capabilities with Technology: Enabling VM at Scale 92

Building VM Capabilities with Process: Organization, Governance, and Operating Models Struggle Under Their Own Weight 92

Value Model Development 93

Engagement Planning 94

Administration and Reporting 94

Training and Content Development 94

Organization 95

Operating Model and Demand Management 95

Improving Deal Coverage and Customer Outcomes 96

What’s Next: AI-Driven Value Management for Sales 97

Introducing the AI-Powered Value Consultant 98

AI Technology: Powering Up Value Management Platforms 99

AI-Enhanced Processes: Exponentially Scaling Value Management Programs 100

Business Case Creation 100

Training and Content Development: Autogenerating Content for Value Management Programs 103

A Quantum Leap in Coverage and Customer Outcomes Using AI 103

Chapter 6 AI for Sales Operations 105

Understanding the Responsibilities of the Sales Operations Team 106

Adding AI to Sales Operations to Quickly Scale Value Management Programs 109

Making the Business Case for Value Engineering Programs: The ROI of ROI Programs 112

Key Outcomes of Value Programs 113

Optimizing the ROI from ROI Programs 113

Chapter 7 Empowering Your Sales Partners with AI-Driven Value Management 115

The Risk of a Poor Partner Experience 116

De-risking Partner Relationships 117

Partner Ecosystems Tiers 118

AI-Enabled Partner-Based Value Management (AI-PBVM) 120

Top Tier—AI-PBVM Unifies Go-to-Market Activities 122

Middle Tier—AI-PBVM Automates Value Management Go-to-Market Messaging and Assets 124

Lower Tier—AI-PBVM Provides Virtual CMO and Value Engineering Resources 126

Value Management for Three Types of Ecosystem Partners 127

System Integrators: An Indispensable Partner 128

Automating Strategy-to-Planning Efforts with AI 130

Accelerating Proofs-of-Concept for Faster Customer Buy-in 132

Providing Accurate Implementation Recommendations 133

Value-Added Resellers—A Critical Link in the Value Chain 137

AI-Powered Co-marketing Assistant 138

Digital Sales Consultant for VARs 138

Technology Alliance Partners 139

AI-Enabled Alliance Assistants 140

AI Sales Consultant 140

AI Value Assistants for Renewals 141

Conclusion 142

Chapter 8 AI-Driven Value Management for Customer Success 145

What Is Customer Success and Why You Should Care? 146

Understanding the Customer Success Workflow 149

Better Together: Combining Customer Success and Value Management 152

The Challenge of Integrating Value Management and Customer Success 153

Pressures Mount for Customer Success Teams 154

The CSM’s Toughest Challenge: Measuring and Communicating Value 155

Touchpoints: Where Value Management Meets Customer Success 157

AI: Changing the Customer Success Game 158

Automating Customer Success 158

Harnessing Data 160

Driving Sales and Loyalty 160

Capturing Greater Value 160

Raising the Performance Bar with AI 161

The Future of AI-Powered Customer Success 164

Chapter 9 One Value Motion: The Power of Unified Value Management 167

The Journey to a Unified Enterprise 168

Sloppy Handoffs and Broken Workflows 171

Differences in Taxonomy 172

Prioritization Conflicts 172

Success Measures 173

Governance Gaps 173

Functional vs. Enterprisewide AI Approaches 174

Solving the Puzzle of an Enterprisewide Value Management Program 175

Creating One Value Motion: A Unified Value Management Framework 175

The One Value Motion Playbook 176

Step 1: Define Your One Value Motion Mission 177

Step 2: Set the One Value Motion Strategy and Leadership Alignment 177

Step 3: Define Success Measures and Business Outcomes 178

Step 4: Establish a Companywide Value Lexicon 178

Step 5: Create a One Value Motion Team 180

Step 6: Secure the Budget 181

Step 7: Implement Operational Governance 182

Step 8: Define One Value Motion Workflows 183

Awareness Phase 183

Interest Phase 184

Purchase Phase 184

Adoption and Renewal Phase 185

Step 9: Design, Develop, and Deploy the AI Value Assistant 185

The AI Value Assistant: Customer Insights at Your Fingertips 186

The Autonomous Worker: Powered by Agentic AI 187

The AI Value Coach: Navigating Conversations in Real Time 188

Building Your AI Value Assistant 189

Targeted Workflow AI Assistant Approach 191

Phase 1: Discovery and Planning 192

Engage Stakeholders 192

Identify and Prioritize Use Cases 193

Gather Requirements 196

Conduct Feasibility Analysis 196

Design a Technical Solution Architecture 197

Phase 2: Design and Development 197

Data Strategy and Integration 197

AI Model Design and Training 198

User Interface and Experience (UI/UX) Design 198

Development of the AI Toolset 198

Phase 3: Testing and Validation 199

Unit and Integration Testing 199

User Acceptance Testing 199

Performance and Security Testing 200

Phase 4: Deployment and Adoption 200

Deployment Planning 200

Pilot Deployment 200

Full-Scale Deployment 201

Phase 5: Post-Deployment Support and Continuous Improvement 201

Continuous Improvement 201

Reporting and Value Realization 201

Reaping the Rewards of One Value Motion 202

Chapter 10 Delivering Business Outcomes with AI-Powered Value Management 203

Boosting Revenue Throughout the Customer Life Cycle 204

How AI-VM Can Drive Revenue: A 10-Year Forecast 206

Capturing More Value from Your Partner Ecosystem 208

Driving Cost and Time Savings 209

Chapter 11 A Final Note to the Reader 213

Glossary 215

Acknowledgments 221

About the Authors 223

Index 225