The Real Barrier to Value‑Driven Selling (Hint: It’s Not the Salespeople)

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The Real Barrier to Value‑Driven Selling (Hint: It’s Not the Salespeople) Abridged

Every distributor says they want value‑driven selling. Fewer
are willing to change the behaviors, measurements, and habits that keep the old model alive. And that’s the real barrier, not the sales team.

Most leaders genuinely believe in value‑driven selling. They just want it layered neatly on top of the relationship‑based model that made them successful. They want better results without discomfort, disruption, or delayed revenue. That’s understandable. It’s also unrealistic.

Traditional selling feels good because it’s familiar. But today’s buyers, especially younger ones, care far less about tenure and far more about insight, data, and financial impact. Even long‑time customers are under pressure to justify decisions internally. Loyalty doesn’t disappear, but it does get audited.

When value‑driven selling stalls, leadership often blames compensation or field capability. But compensation plans simply encourage the behaviors they were designed to reward. And most reps were hired and trained for a completely different job. If you’ve rewarded speed, comfort, and relationship maintenance for decades, you shouldn’t be surprised when reps default to exactly that.

Here’s the part many leaders don’t want to admit:

Field capability improves quickly once expectations, coaching, and incentives line up. I’ve watched “old‑school” reps become strong value sellers when given structure, language, and permission to think out loud with customers.

Value‑driven selling requires patience, discomfort, and a new definition of what a good sales call looks like. It’s slower at first. It’s messier. And it forces leaders to reward thinking, not just activity.

Most organizations don’t fail because their people can’t sell value. They fail because leadership keeps rewarding yesterday while asking for tomorrow.

Before you roll out another training program or tweak compensation, ask the harder question:

Are we actually willing to reward the behaviors we say we want?

That’s the real pivot point.

If you’re ready for the extended cut. including the parts most leaders don’t want to talk about, here’s the full article.


https://thedistributorchannel.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-real-barrier-to-valuedriven-selling.html




About the Author
Frank Hurtte helps distributors bridge the gap between traditional relationship
selling and modern, value‑driven sales strategy. With decades in the trenches of industrial distribution, he works with leadership teams to rethink compensation, coaching, and field expectations so their organizations can compete on insight, not nostalgia.



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