By **Gregory Ronczewski**, Director of Product Design at Ibbaka.

Value seems to be a straightforward concept, so let's look at what Merriam-Webster has on cycle.

An interval of time during which a sequence of recurring succession of events or phenomena is completed
A course or series of events or operations that recur regularly and usually lead back to the starting point
One complete performance of a vibration, electric oscillation, current alternation, or other periodic processes
A permutation of a set of ordered elements in which each element takes the place of the next, and the last becomes first
A circular or spiral arrangement

The key point here is that the value cycle is not a linear process. It is iterative and repeated. This cyclical approach is essential for building value in sales and ensuring that organizations continuously adapt to changing customer needs.

The London Business School defines the Value Cycle as follows:

The Value Cycle articulates a broadly applicable management process for achieving and sustaining superior performance; specifically, it ties together: Value, which refers to an organization's ability to exceed the specific needs of its customers.

The concept of a customer can be more complex than it appears. Included in ‘customer’ are the different members of the decision making unit, the business buyer, the economic buyer, the technical buyer and other stakeholders who may not be buyers, or even users, but who are impacted by the outputs of the solution. Understanding these perspectives is critical for business value selling and for engaging in effective value-based conversations with every stakeholder.

Our Pricing and Customer Value Management Platform helps B2B SaaS companies communicate the value of their offering and put price in the context of value. We use the Value Cycle Framework to visualize the five-step process. The value cycle defines how organizations create, communicate, deliver, document, and capture value (in price).

This approach supports how to sell value and ensures your pricing reflects the true value delivered. Here is a good summary written by Steven Forth.

The 5 Steps in the value cycle are all based on value understanding. A value model is one of the best ways to develop a shared understanding of value, shared inside your organization and with your customers.

The 5 steps in the value cycle are:

Value Creation: Seeing from our customers’ perspective and how we create that value for them. People and businesses receive value in terms of economic, emotional, and community measures. This is the foundation for how to build value in sales and for developing a compelling value selling definition that resonates with your market.

Value Communication: This is how businesses communicate and articulate value. It boils down to our value proposition. Different stakeholders will experience value in their specific ways. Therefore, communication must map to buyers and value segments. Effective value-based conversations and selling value require that your messaging is tailored to address the unique priorities of each decision maker.

Value Delivery: This is how the value is delivered, and how does the value get recognized as received by your customer? Delivering on your promises and providing value selling examples throughout the customer journey reinforces trust and strengthens your position when selling on value.

Value Documentation: Customers sometimes need help to quantify and document the value they are receiving. Having value recorded serves as a reference to make a case for our customers to invest in us. This step is central to added value selling, as it provides tangible proof of the value of sales and supports renewal and upsell efforts.

Value Capture: It boils down to pricing. Ibbaka promotes value-based pricing. When we can quantify our positive impact on our customers, we have a greater chance of capturing value. This is the essence of value-based selling - aligning price with the value delivered and ensuring both your company and your customers benefit from the relationship.

For another perspective on the Value Cycle, see: Understanding the Value Cycle by Matt Wensing.

Originally published on December 7th, 2022. Updated on May 15th, 2025.

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