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  Selected Readings to Sharpen Your Edge
Selling the value of your solutions at the executive level is critical to your success. Since you can never learn too much, here is some reading to help you Sharpen Your Edge.

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TCO vs. ROI
CIO's are constantly striving to show the business value of IT investments and prove how these investments are strategic to the business. For sales professionals, understanding the move in favor of ROI over TCO provides another reason why they must assist their buyers in understanding how their solutions create business value beyond the safe zone of cutting costs.
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Four Steps to CIO Effectiveness
To be effective at selling value, you must understand how those who make buying decisions are measured. According to Information Week, there are currently 4 steps to CIO effectiveness. This article outlines describes those steps, and understanding how your solutions can contribute to those will raise your stature with the CIO and enable you to close more business.
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How to Wow Your Board of Directors
Turns out that the things going through the CIO's mind before a meeting with the Board of Directors, and the fears they face, are right in line with our own as sales professionals. This article will help you understand the CIO's pressures and better enable you to assist them, and increase your chances of winning the business.
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Hidden Value
This article discusses the role of intangible (non-quantified) benefits in technology investment decisions. In their survey, 75% of C-level executives said the intangibles are as important or more important than standard ROI measurements. Understanding the role intangible benefits play in the investment decision is crucial to value assessment.
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Value-Based Pricing
The right approach to pricing does more than optimize revenue. It can also demonstrate to your sales force how the value is created. This whitepaper by Tom Cissell with The Cistek Group explains a smart approach to value pricing.
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Outsourcing's Next Wave
Today, having a more variable cost structure has become a real priority for most executives and creating that variability is now one of the top three reasons companies outsource. Understanding outsourcing's ever-evolving value proposition will enhance your ability to sell.
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Five Top CIO's Reveal Their Leadership Secrets
The profiles in this article show that these CIO's consider themselves business people rather than technologists. This article is important to value assessment because it discusses how these CIO's view themselves and their roles. Understanding this is paramount to selling to them.
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R.O.Iowa
Read about a great example of value assessment of IT investments. It shows the diversity in value assessment, (ROI, risk, customer service, enterprise impact, and strategic impact) and despite the differences in public/private sector selling, value assessment in each have strong similarities.
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Wanted: Metric Skeptics
Learn about the use of metrics in a business case from a buyer's perspective. This article discusses how to eliminate ambiguity; shows that guesstimates are OK and how to seek all available resources for your metrics. From a seller's perspective, having this knowledge puts you in a consultative role with your buyer while jointly building the assumptions for the business case.
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How to Make Your Best Case
This article outlines business case best practices and recommends five rules to live by that practically guarantee business case success. Understanding these rules will go a long way toward ensuring the business case you put together will be successful.
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Avoiding the TCO Trap
Learn why total cost of ownership is a good way to measure costs, but a bad way to analyze the full business value of IT investments. In value assessment, it is critical to look at the full value of what you are selling.
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Outsourcing's Benefits May Be More Than Monetary
Often times seen as a way to cut costs, this article describes the value of outsourcing beyond cost cutting. And in value assessment, the goal is to uncover all of the value.
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Deciding Factors
This CIO sees himself as a venture capitalist to determine how best to invest the company's money. As a supplier, are you equipped to help?
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Division of Labor
As business and technology environments become more complex, many buyers of large outsourcing solutions are realizing that one provider cannot possibly satisfy all of their requirements. Understanding this fundamental market shift and where your company fits will put you in a stronger selling position.
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