PPVVC
Updated at: 31 January 2025
Any company with a large sales team knows that you can't rely on luck. You can't guess who your sales reps are communicating with, what their closing rates are, how often potential customers are followed up with, what your sales funnels or forecasts look like. You need to know exactly what leads to success!
One of the biggest challenges many companies face is how to effectively link their marketing plan to their sales process. Too often, teams operate as completely separate entities without finding ways to work together.
There are many proven sales methodologies that you can draw on. But you need to find what works for you specifically and then helps you stay on top of it. If sales were like arithmetic, that would be great! You could figure out the exact equation to get the most out of your sales team.
In today's highly competitive market environment, improving sales skills is critical for every salesperson. And there is a well-known formula in sales methodology called PPVVC. Its meaning is as follows:
Sales = Pain × Power × Vision × Value × Control
Although it is only a conceptual formula, that doesn't mean it doesn't work.
Developed by sales consultants Sales Performance International, the formula is a variation of [MEDDIC]() (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion). PPVVC is one of the best sales strategies because you'll know exactly where you can connect and help.
Let's take a closer look.
## What is PPVVC?
The basic idea is that the sales process works like an algebraic formula. The acronym PPVVC has five letters, and each letter represents a key factor. The five elements are indispensable. If any of them is 0, the integer will be zero. If any factor is less than 1, it will not be an increase but a decrease in the total value.
The five elements of the sales formula are explained as follows:
Pain is a key element of the formula
Pain (goals, customer ideas and the gap between them and their expectations, etc.) is the driving force to buy. Without pain, there is no change. It's a law of nature. The key is how to harness potential customer pain and turn it into explicit pain to get more business opportunities.
The ability to use lead generation to determine the best candidate and whether they have the authority to either make a decision or refer you to a decision maker.
Power is the power to make decisions
The focus is on those who have decision-making power. This concept does not mean ignoring those who do not have such power. For example, in IT projects, technical staff may not have decision-making power, but they have strong veto power; this means focusing on key roles and linking the entire decision-making chain. Simply put, the person in the buying organization with the ability to make or influence a buying decision is the power for that capability.
Offer unique solutions to problems for the buyer. And that these solutions can be measured. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. If you haven't found a problem to solve, if you're trying to sell to someone who can't buy, if you can't communicate a better tomorrow, or if you can't quantify the value of that change, the probability of winning the sale is likely zero.
Vision.
The potential buyer needs to understand what your offer will allow them to do, but also be able to visualize themselves doing something different in the future.
Build the relationship you want to have with your customers, what kind of partnership you want to develop in the future and how you will support them. As time passes and relationships evolve, customers move from basic information needs to wanting more details about how your company is positioned to best address their needs. This is the role for [Whitepapers](), [Case Studies](), and eBooks.
Value
Customers need to realize the quantifiable value they will receive by investing in your offering. Don't just "sell" your services/goods - give customers real value.
Offer unique solutions to problems for the buyer. And that these solutions can be measured. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. If you haven't found a problem to solve, if you're trying to sell to someone who can't buy, if you can't communicate a better tomorrow, or if you can't quantify the value of that change, the probability of winning the sale is likely zero.
Control
The term "control" may seem a bit heavy-handed, but it's really about guiding the customer to the right decision, not manipulating them. Customers have their own principles, habits and methods, and customer business processes are under your control. So the term "control" refers more to controlling the rhythm, speeding up or slowing down the process as needed. For example, how should you nudge the client so you can get paid faster for the project? How can you communicate with the client so you can sign the contract within the expected time frame?
The ability to retain potential customers while waiting for their time or budget is powerful. It can have a real impact on sales conversion and the timeliness of the bottom line.
## Benefits of the PPVVC methodology
So you have an established sales strategy, how do you tie it into your marketing process? Start by considering each step in the process. Sales and marketing goals should always be the same. Finding a way to link the marketing plan and sales process at every level will lead to greater success for the entire organization.
Using the PPVVC, five basic strategies can be formulated for project work, including customer relationship strategy, solution strategy, business and financing strategy, delivery and service strategy, and competitive strategy.
### Customer Relationship Strategy
The organization builds support for customer relationships through **five key actions:**
● Company reports,
● technical exchanges,
● high-level mutual visits,
● company inspections,
● trade show visits. Experimental offices, strategic investments, trial commercial use of equipment, conditionally free relocation, and other methods are provided to gain the recognition of key customer decision makers. The driving force behind customer relationships is to initiate purchases or strategic collaborations based on the customer's business needs and pain points. Customer relationships must recognize the trend and consistency of the customer's strength, especially the ideological and emotional starting point of the final decision maker. ### Solution Strategy Technology, product portfolio, system solutions and business functions must be aligned with customer needs. They must not only solve customer problems, but also be cutting-edge and competitive, and bring convenience and benefits to customers. The design and architecture of the solution are important evidence to beat the competition. The solution itself must have business cost advantages and a deep understanding of executable costs. The solution must not only hit the customer's pain point, but also provide value to the customer and, more importantly, achieve the customer's business vision. Presenting the solution in the form of a scenario is key to achieving customer requirements. ### Delivery and Service Strategy Successful delivery is about realizing the customer's business vision so that customers can see how to make money with the products and solutions they purchase. Another goal of delivery is to complete the confirmation of customer payment and realize invoicing upon delivery. Therefore, the biggest delivery strategy is how to deliver on time with high quality and realize the value requirements of both parties by combining delivery and payment terms. This is a very important control. ### Competitive Strategy Provide customers with differentiated competitive advantages and enhance their competitiveness; help customers avoid technical risks, product risks, operational risks and investment risks; help customers set high standards and high thresholds that reflect customer value, and select partners with strong comprehensive capabilities. The best competitive strategy is to plan a customer experience that outperforms the competition at a critical time. Different products and solutions, different application scenarios, different decision makers, and different stages of development should have appropriate competitive strategies. This is also the control of decision making. ### Business and financing strategies Good customer relationships, unique and reliable delivery solutions are the foundation of business strategy. Business strategy is the structured development and presentation of the value of the product. Only when customers fully understand the uniqueness and high value of products and solutions will they accept higher prices, including brand premiums and good payment terms. The best business strategy is to allow customers to compare and provide customers with better methods and selection tools to ultimately achieve feasible financing terms, comprehensive pricing advantages and reasonable payment methods. Only by providing customers with unique market competitiveness do customers gain power and control over decision making, and feel value and control over products and solutions. ## Using the PPVVC method in sales Each letter in the PPVVC corresponds to a key point in the interaction between the salesperson and the customer, so the quality of the salesperson's performance will be reflected in the score and allow the manager to assess whether there has been an impact at the customer level. In this way, the manager can focus on one simple competency or behavior that needs to be improved. And at the same time, realign the strategy or actions so that the opportunity is realized. Sales people can start with these five dimensions to analyze customer needs, concepts, and values, conduct consultative selling, and influence customers' willingness to buy. In the sales management process, this can also be used to determine the percentage of wins in the sales funnel using CRM. ![PPVVC 1.png]()
For example, a low score on the first two P's would mean that some preliminary conversations need to be repeated. More questions need to be asked to assess the current launch. Working on the proposal at this stage won't solve anything because you don't have a win condition. Once mastered with PPVVCC and how to read this data, managers will be able to coach salespeople in the hallway, at the water cooler or coffee machine to talk about strategic opportunities using the same language and model and focus on the same development goals.
● technical exchanges,
● high-level mutual visits,
● company inspections,
● trade show visits. Experimental offices, strategic investments, trial commercial use of equipment, conditionally free relocation, and other methods are provided to gain the recognition of key customer decision makers. The driving force behind customer relationships is to initiate purchases or strategic collaborations based on the customer's business needs and pain points. Customer relationships must recognize the trend and consistency of the customer's strength, especially the ideological and emotional starting point of the final decision maker. ### Solution Strategy Technology, product portfolio, system solutions and business functions must be aligned with customer needs. They must not only solve customer problems, but also be cutting-edge and competitive, and bring convenience and benefits to customers. The design and architecture of the solution are important evidence to beat the competition. The solution itself must have business cost advantages and a deep understanding of executable costs. The solution must not only hit the customer's pain point, but also provide value to the customer and, more importantly, achieve the customer's business vision. Presenting the solution in the form of a scenario is key to achieving customer requirements. ### Delivery and Service Strategy Successful delivery is about realizing the customer's business vision so that customers can see how to make money with the products and solutions they purchase. Another goal of delivery is to complete the confirmation of customer payment and realize invoicing upon delivery. Therefore, the biggest delivery strategy is how to deliver on time with high quality and realize the value requirements of both parties by combining delivery and payment terms. This is a very important control. ### Competitive Strategy Provide customers with differentiated competitive advantages and enhance their competitiveness; help customers avoid technical risks, product risks, operational risks and investment risks; help customers set high standards and high thresholds that reflect customer value, and select partners with strong comprehensive capabilities. The best competitive strategy is to plan a customer experience that outperforms the competition at a critical time. Different products and solutions, different application scenarios, different decision makers, and different stages of development should have appropriate competitive strategies. This is also the control of decision making. ### Business and financing strategies Good customer relationships, unique and reliable delivery solutions are the foundation of business strategy. Business strategy is the structured development and presentation of the value of the product. Only when customers fully understand the uniqueness and high value of products and solutions will they accept higher prices, including brand premiums and good payment terms. The best business strategy is to allow customers to compare and provide customers with better methods and selection tools to ultimately achieve feasible financing terms, comprehensive pricing advantages and reasonable payment methods. Only by providing customers with unique market competitiveness do customers gain power and control over decision making, and feel value and control over products and solutions. ## Using the PPVVC method in sales Each letter in the PPVVC corresponds to a key point in the interaction between the salesperson and the customer, so the quality of the salesperson's performance will be reflected in the score and allow the manager to assess whether there has been an impact at the customer level. In this way, the manager can focus on one simple competency or behavior that needs to be improved. And at the same time, realign the strategy or actions so that the opportunity is realized. Sales people can start with these five dimensions to analyze customer needs, concepts, and values, conduct consultative selling, and influence customers' willingness to buy. In the sales management process, this can also be used to determine the percentage of wins in the sales funnel using CRM.  make your salespeople more effective and (b) eliminate the guessing game.
By implementing PPVVC, companies can document and standardize their sales methodologies, providing a common language for discussing sales strategies.
What's more, PPVVC serves as a guide for sales teams, ensuring that everyone knows what to do and when to do it. And a flexible B2B CRM can help tailor this sales approach to real-world usability.
**Finally, with the PPVVC formula, you'll increase your chances of:**
● Optimizing your sales processes.
● Increased forecasting accuracy.
● Increased chances of closing deals effectively. Improving PPVVC sales skills is crucial for every salesperson. By understanding the target audience, building good interpersonal relationships, mastering effective sales techniques and providing excellent after-sales service, salespeople can become excellent sales experts and achieve better results.
● Increased forecasting accuracy.
● Increased chances of closing deals effectively. Improving PPVVC sales skills is crucial for every salesperson. By understanding the target audience, building good interpersonal relationships, mastering effective sales techniques and providing excellent after-sales service, salespeople can become excellent sales experts and achieve better results.