Episode 334: How AI Can Skyrocket Your Value Management with Craig LeGrande

AI's presence in our lives continues to increase with the potential to transform entire industries. When talking about business revenue, one key area where AI's role becomes increasingly obvious is value management.

We were wondering:

How can tech companies leverage AI to create value, drive growth, and improve customer experience?

To help us with that, we have Craig LeGrande, CEO and Founder of Mainstay. With over 20 years in high tech at top companies like IBM, Accenture, and Cisco, Craig had the privilege of learning directly from leaders in sales, marketing, and product development. As the co-author of Ruthless Execution and Competing for Customer, Craig shares insights into leadership and building strong customer relationships.

How Did Value Management Evolve to a Core Discipline in Tech?

While companies like Cisco and Oracle pioneered the use of value management to solve business problems, it was a largely unstructured approach, driven more by individual initiatives that formalized departments. Fast forward to today, and value management has evolved into a disciplined, strategic practice, with dedicated teams and even roles like "Value Engineer."

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“Just over the last 5 years, you'll hear the title of value engineer has been out there. Value management teams have become departments within sales or within organizations has become more of a discipline, much more of a discipline than it was 20 years ago.”

Craig LeGrande, CEO and Founder of Mainstay

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AI-Driven Value Management

Scaling value management programs for large and mid-sized companies is challenging due to a shortage of skilled, credible professionals who can engage high-level clients. Tools and platforms help make value management more accessible to sales teams, but only up to a point. Craig explains that real impact happens when companies create a unified, knowledgeable "single voice" approach, where salespeople come prepared with deep insights into a client's challenges and needs, enabled by AI to quickly pull relevant data and solutions. This way, client conversations become highly tailored, data-driven, and genuinely valuable, bridging the gap between preparation and credibility in the boardroom.

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“What we want the sales executives, the leadership of the companies to understand is that value conversation has already probably started way before the AE gets a call or gets the opportunity to talk to that CEO or executive. [...] And it's the ability to understand where that customer is in that journey so that you can have the right conversation with that customer.”

Craig LeGrande, CEO and Founder of Mainstay

Strategic Partnership Versus One-Time Sale

Building client trust isn't just about flashy numbers like "5,000% ROI." It's about creating a consistent narrative across your marketing, sales, and customer success teams. Instead of overwhelming potential buyers with exaggerated claims, focus on establishing a unified voice that underscores achievable benchmarks tailored to their industry and needs. Known as value intelligence, this approach ensures that every interaction is grounded in reality, nurturing deeper relationships and positioning you as a strategic partner rather than just a one-time seller.

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“What we talk about a lot in the book is this idea of value intelligence. [...] Think of it as like the overlay across marketing sales and customer success that builds that communication set that says there are solid benchmarks.”

Craig LeGrande, CEO and Founder of Mainstay

Why Sales Enablement Should Be Your First Hire

Sales enablement plays a key role in uniting sales teams, enhancing best practices, and ensuring everyone leverages the right tools and resources. Experienced salespeople often operate like individual CEOs, but without proper guidance and operational support, their success can't scale. Bringing in sales enablement helps align efforts across the team and transform complex tasks into streamlined processes, allowing salespeople to focus more on engaging with customers and less on administrative work.

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“Sales enablement is super important for value management because without sales enablement, all of the processes, the tools, the practices don't have a methodology to scale.”

Craig LeGrande, CEO and Founder of Mainstay

Unlock 8x Revenue

To succeed as a revenue executive, prioritize establishing a strong value management strategy tailored to your long-term goals. While AI will be a powerful tool for scaling this practice, you must first define your objectives and set clear targets. Start by focusing on how value management can enhance lead generation, deal closing, and customer success.

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“There is a 8x revenue opportunity if you do value management right.”

Craig LeGrande, CEO and Founder of Mainstay

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Now that you know how to leverage AI to enhance your value management, discover the full list of episodes at The B2B Revenue Executive Experience. If you enjoy the show, instructions to rate and review it are found here.

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