Defend and Extend Market Leadership through Value-Based Selling

1. Executive Summary

Between 2007-2009, Huawei and ZTE undercut Ericsson’s Northern Europe bids by 30–40%. Ericsson held—and strengthened—its market position by shifting from feature-led to value-based selling. With telecom contracts valued in billions of SEK, the strategy achieved 100% Tier 1 customer retention and improved Marketing-Sales NPS from -10 to +40. The key was developing quantified TCO narratives that reframed conversations around business outcomes.

2. Business Challenge

The competitive threat was multifaceted and accelerating. New entrants such as Huawei and ZTE were:

• Undercutting prices by 30-40%
• Rapidly improving product performance
• Gaining share through aggressive field tactics

Traditional messages around technology superiority and brand loyalty were no longer sufficient. Ericsson needed to retain its customer base and reinforce loyalty—without resorting to margin-eroding price wars.

Key Question: How do you defend market leadership and deepen customer relationships when your value story no longer resonates—and pricing pressure dominates the market?

3. Strategic Response

The Northern Europe marketing and commercial teams pivoted toward a customer-centric, value-based selling model, embedding marketing into account-level planning and working shoulder-to-shoulder with sales to craft narratives built around business outcomes, not product features.

The strategy had four key shifts:

• Reorganize marketing teams around customer insight and value creation
• Build robust competitive intelligence and sales enablement tools
• Co-develop messaging and campaigns with account teams and operators
• Drive morale and conviction internally, reinforcing Ericsson’s differentiated value beyond price

4. Key Initiatives and Execution

• Marketing Embedded in Account Planning
  • Shifted from generic campaigns to account-specific GTM plans
  • Worked directly with sales teams to create messaging tailored to each operator’s strategic goals
• Value-Based Storytelling
  • Developed narratives focused on total cost of ownership, network lifecycle, and service reliability
  • Developed quantitative tools to support the value story, including ROI impact models, SLA performance benchmarks, and customer business case scenarios
• Competitive Intelligence Enablement
  • Delivered dynamic battlecards, objection handling playbooks, and win/loss feedback loops
  • Conducted regular field reviews to improve agility against price-based disruptors
• Operator Co-Marketing
  • Partnered with operator marketing teams on joint campaigns
  • Leveraged Ericsson’s consumer research and brand strength to support operator positioning
• Internal Mobilization
  • Ran internal communications campaigns and learning sessions to strengthen belief and alignment
  • Highlighted success stories and customer endorsements to reinforce conviction

5. Results and Outcomes

6. Frameworks Applied

• Value Proposition Canvas
  Used to align Ericsson’s value story to specific customer jobs, pains, and gains—especially at the account level.
• TCO & ROI Modeling
  Created financial framing tools to move from cost-to-price conversations to long-term impact and lifecycle value.
• ABM (Account-Based Marketing) Framework
  Allowed tailored planning and execution with strategic operator accounts, integrating sales, marketing, and delivery.

7. Pitfalls and Lessons Learned

1. Underestimating the Power of Localized Insight

Initial messaging efforts were too centralized and generic to land in high-pressure competitive deals.

Lesson: Build from the account up. Insight-driven messaging beats global positioning when price is on the line.

2. Sales Resistance to Marketing-Led Narratives

Some sales teams were skeptical of marketing’s role in value definition, seeing it as too abstract or disconnected.

Lesson: Co-create with sales. Field teams adopt what they help shape—especially when it drives pipeline or protects margin.

3. Inconsistent Value Enablement

Not all sales reps had the training or tools to carry the value story through in tough negotiations.

Lesson: Treat value selling as a capability, not just content. Train, role-play, and reinforce it regularly.

4. Lack of Quantification Models Early On

In the beginning, stories lacked numerical rigor—limiting their impact against cost-led competitors.

Lesson: Frame the conversation with numbers. Use TCO, cost-of-failure, and time-to-value data to shift perception.

5. Risk of Over-Customization

Highly tailored messaging created pressure on bandwidth and speed—slowing scale and consistency.

Lesson: Codify what works. Create modular templates that can be tailored, but reused across accounts and regions.

8. Ideal Use Cases

This case is ideal for organizations that want to:

• Defend premium positions in the face of price-based competitors
• Shift sales and marketing toward value and outcome-based selling
• Improve cross-functional execution at the account level
• Equip field teams with actionable, insight-driven tools and support

Applicable for:
Companies with complex go-to-market models—across B2B, SaaS, product-led, or services-driven environments

9. Key Insight

Customers don’t leave because of price—they leave because they don’t see the value.
In highly competitive markets, the ability to demonstrate impact beats the urge to discount.

10. References

• Osterwalder, A. et al. (2014). Value Proposition Design
• Rackham, N. (1988). SPIN Selling
• ITSMA (2021). Account-Based Marketing Best Practices
• Forrester & SiriusDecisions (2020). The ROI of Value Enablement

11. Appendix: Framework Critique and Limitations

Value Proposition Canvas

Strength: Aligns offer to buyer pain/gain
Limitation: Can become theoretical if not grounded in field validation

TCO / ROI Modeling

Strength: Enables financial comparison and defensible value
Limitation: Requires data accuracy and sales skill to use credibly

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Strength: Enables precision GTM alignment and cross-functional focus
Limitation: Resource-intensive—difficult to scale across long-tail accounts