Bringing Back REDS—and Expanding It

Value selling isn’t a pitch.

It’s how you de-risk a human decision at enterprise scale.

When buyers stall, it’s rarely because they don’t understand the technology. It’s because the decision feels unsafe—politically, operationally, or personally. Over time, I’ve come back to a simple way of making that risk visible and manageable. I call it Customers See REDS.

Customer value isn’t abstract. It shows up when four things are consistently true.

Customer Value = REDS

Relevance

Start in the customer’s world, not your own. What are they measured on? Where does the risk actually live—career risk, compliance risk, adoption risk? If you can’t articulate that clearly, nothing else matters.

Excellence

Make quality visible. Clear communication. Crisp executive summaries. Disciplined follow-through. Excellence isn’t about being impressive—it’s about being easy to trust.

Delivery

Be boringly reliable. Do exactly what you said, when you said you would. Delivery is the quiet backbone of credibility, and most teams underestimate how much trust it builds.

Surprise

Add one unexpected positive. A proactive risk brief. A 90-day adoption plan. An answer to the question the customer hasn’t quite voiced yet. Surprise isn’t flash—it’s thoughtful service.

A Personal Example

Last year, a university partner ran into a perfect storm: a budget freeze and growing faculty skepticism around AI. I didn’t show up with slides. I showed up with questions.

We sat down with the dean, the registrar, and the help-desk lead. What emerged quickly was that their real concern wasn’t features or functionality. It was student trust and time-to-value.

Together, we co-created a governance-first rollout—clear guardrails, clear ownership, clear escalation paths. And for the Surprise, we hosted Saturday “office hours” where faculty could safely experiment with the tools, ask uncomfortable questions, and see the system in action without pressure.

That one intentional moment changed everything. Confidence rose. Implementation time dropped dramatically. Resistance turned into advocacy.

The dean sent a follow-up note with five words:

“Thanks. I feel safe proceeding.”

That’s value selling.

A Leadership Lens on REDS

REDS isn’t just a sales framework—it’s a leadership behavior model.

• Orchestrate the room. You don’t need the org chart to influence the buying committee. You need every stakeholder to see themselves in the win.

• Make risk legible. When people can clearly see the path through legal, security, finance, and operations, they’re willing to walk it with you.

• Coach for REDS behaviors.

  
  

  • Relevance = listening

  • Excellence = standards

  • Delivery = rituals

  • Surprise = curiosity and service

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• Model it. Leaders go first. We keep promises. We celebrate quiet reliability. We reward the small, human moments that create trust.

As we head into the next quarter, here are four questions worth asking—of yourself and your teams:

• Where are we most relevant right now?

• Where is our excellence clearly visible?

• What will we deliver next, without excuses?

• And what one intentional surprise will we create this week?

That’s how you turn selling into leadership—and transactions into trust.

#ValueSelling #Leadership #EnterpriseSales #CustomerSuccess #Trust #GoToMarket #HigherEducation #HealthcareIT #GrowthMindset