Solution Selling? Yes and No

Solution Selling
What is solution selling? Does it work? Is it what every customer is dreaming of? Is it going to change the way we sell products in the 21st century and beyond? Let’s review this story and we can then decide on the answers together.

This is a story of a former account manager that once worked for a big transportation company. A company with name recognition, great reputation and reliable services.

Selling for that company was a breeze; the services sold itself and the brand name made it easy to get through the gate keepers to sell over and over again.

One day, the gurus of the upper sales management of that transportation company, out of boredom or to impress their superiors, decided that penetrating accounts and networking within the account to sell more services was a thing of the past. They came up with an idea; Account managers will now be sales consultants. They insisted that everyone in sales must embrace the new and revolutionary way of selling.

So, what was that new way of selling that will revolutionize the world of selling? The answer was Solution Selling. The company tried to sell the idea as the newest way of selling that would differentiate between the company and its competition. Well, let’s see what is solution selling really is in the eyes of those gurus?

Solution selling is convincing the customers that they have a problem or multiple problems that, the sales consultants, have the solution or solutions for.
So, what is wrong with that concept? Let’s look at it from the customer’s point of view and decide if there is a problem or multiple problems with it:

A corporate Level contact receives a call from that sales consultant requesting a visit to consult with him/her on their business. The meeting starts with the customary greeting and the sales consultant proceeds to advise the customer of his findings about their company, information that he collected from the customer’s income tax statement, their 10K, their P&L margin analysis and how he discovered many problems in the customer’s supply chain.

Imagine yourself being the corporate level of that company listening to that sales representative, or the sales consultant as the transportation company would love to call him. What comes to your mind at that moment to say? No one would be surprised if you ask: why did you have to dig in my company’s financials? You may even add: I thought you’re here to sell your products to me and not to provide me with my company’s financial reports. You may even add: I have people in my company that I hired to provide me with financial reports and to my knowledge; you’re not one of them.

That scenario that I just described is not the most devastating one for a sales representative, the situation can get uglier, when the topic moves on to the problems with the supply chain practice at the customer’s operation, that is when the corporate level person can start thinking that this sales representative is trying to show me problems with my company despite the company’s long history of success and prosperity. The outcome can be very ugly.

However, the transportation company would still leads its sales force to believe that the concept of solution selling was introduced to accomplish the following:

• Getting to know your customer
• Finding the shortfalls in the company’s financials to help them with it.
• Finding the right product/products that can fix the shortfalls.
• Better connect with the customer by being a consultant and not a sales representative.

What the transportation company did not tell the sales force is; telling a customer that they have problems when in fact the customer does not, is a very dangerous tactic that can backfire. In addition, the word “solution” in English means “something that solves a problem or achieves a goal” the concept of solution selling would still be stillborn because a “solution” is only a THING. The B2B customer doesn’t want a THING. The B2B customer wants RESULTS.
Furthermore, digging in the customer’s financials without his consent can be illegal in many states.

So what is wrong with solution selling? Here is what you and I can see wrong with it:


• Solution is another name for Product. The Decision-Makers knows it and so do you.

. The idea of assuming that the customer has problems sets the wrong tone and leads to a negative conversation.

• If someone is giving you the time to discuss problems with their supply chain and is listening to your “Solutions”, he/she is not a decision-maker. He or She is a speed-bump.

• Decision-Makers are not looking for solutions, they’re looking for results.

• Your “Solutions “are basically products and your competition has similar or the same products.

• How long does it take today’s sales professionals to close a sale based on “solution selling “?

So, what is the solution to that new concept/problem selling?

- Do Not Sell Solutions Unless the Decision-Makers present you with problems.
- Just sell results that can help set you apart from your competition.
- Result Selling – Not Solution Selling

And always remember, People Buy from People. So don’t lose a sale by searching for problems in your customers' world.

Your Talent or Your Product?

Is it true that the soldier is as good as his weapon? Or the salesman is as good as his product? Well, believe it or not, no answer is wrong. Do you remember hearing a knock on your front door and when you answered, a poor young man was standing there selling a product you do not need? How did you feel and what did you do? 6 out of 10 people say that they bought the product despite no need for it. It was that poor young man's selling skills that accomplished the sale.
On the other hand, when shopping for a car, how often do people buy from the first salesman that approaches them? No doubt they needed the product but, 4 out 7 were turned off by the salesman's approach.
Sure we buy on the Internet more than we ever did but, people will continue to buy from people at their door steps, in the stores and with flayer's left by a person at their front door.

It is not the persistence alone that sells, in fact, some shape of persistence can leave a negative impact on buyers, it is the personality, complemented by a good product and presented in a very persuasive way, which assures a clean sale and a possible referral in the future.

Your talent as a sales professional lies in your personality, your presentation of your product and finally, your knowledge of the product.

Always remember, People Buy From People.

Strategic Sales..Why?

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned selling? A personable salesman who is knowledgeable about his products, a customer who has the need for the products; they meet and discuss the products, the pricing and the length of the contract. Lunch meeting will be on the agenda for next time and a ballgame will join the two to get to know one another. The deal is finalized over three to four visits and, perhaps, the two families may gather around a meal to introduce the new friendship. Loyalty was born over sharing that bread and life is good.

That sounded like the selling of the 50's to most organizations today, nice warm and fuzzy story that could serve as the ending of a great family movie. Yet, if we examine the story closely, there is no mentioning of competitor's threat, industry trend, share holders demands or rising fuel cost and the Internet selling. Life was much simpler back then, wasn't it?

Today's selling is more complicated than it was 50 years ago, and manufacturers and service providers expect far more of their sales force today than they did back in the 50's. The more competition you have to face, the higher the risk of losing a client.

Today, more and more manufacturers and corporations are focusing on retention to secure a steady income, with which they can manage their spending and maintain profitability. With retention of current clients, companies can usually adjust their spending to post profitability. But, does retention mean maintenance? Or does it have a broader meaning? Let us examine that word “Retention ". To retain anything in life, you have to have a plan to save, protect and polish that thing. In the business world, retention will mean:

• Creating a switching barrier (No expiration contracts, costly penalties for early terminations, lower pricing based on higher volume...etc )
• Involving more departments in the relationship with the client
• Creating a thinking process that helps the client increase their profitability
• Personalizing customer service to support the client on daily bases
The above examples are part of today's Strategic Selling. It is a forced strategy by today's world economy and it is here to stay. And to achieve that strategic selling philosophy, client reports have replaced hello visits, industry trending reports have replaced "How's it going?", and finally, PowerPoint presentations have replaced the paper report.
It is safe to say goodbye to old-fashioned selling, to the personable selling, even to some tactical selling. If you do not know your customer better than he does, you will not achieve RETENTION.
I still remember, People Buy From People but, will that be enough to succeed in today's competitive market place?

Goals Vs. Customer Needs

If you have been selling for a while, you know how it feels to receive your new sales goals for the year. I would look at it and say “if I did not achieve my smaller goal last year, how would I be able to make it with 23% increase?". Trust me, the goal will never decrease, it may stall, but not for long. Those moments of truth are harsh as reality can ever be but, don't sweat it if you can't change it.
The focus on meeting the sales goals will hunt you all year but, you have a more important challenge to deal with, the customer. You see, without your customer, you have no chance of making any goal, small or big. So why don't you shift some of your focus on the customer? What can you do to keep that customer and grow their business? Grow their business? That would be one way to increase your goal attainment. Then, let us focus on the customer for a second here; do you have all the business there? Or do you share some with the competition? Here are some tips to start digging for more business:
• If you sell a product to your customer, did you ever ask if they need this product for another branch of their company? If you never did, do so, it would not hurt you. Do you have another product that you never offered your customer before? Does your customer buy a product from your competition that your company offers? It is time to get in the game and discuss your competitive product.
• If you sell services, does your customer utilize all your services? Do they even have a need for other services? If your customer utilizes other service providers, they must have a need that you can fulfill. Get in the game and discuss their needs.
Get to know your customers as you will need that knowledge to get ahead of your competition and certainly, help you to meet your sales goals. And always remember, People buy from people and your relationship with your customer can and will be your asset.

Information Is Key

Have you ever called a merchant that you ordered a product from to inquire about your order? How did you feel when the answer was “it was sent out"? Is that all you can tell me? Can you tell me where it is now? How soon will it be here? Good luck getting an answer.
In the mid 90's, I ordered a part for my personal laptop; and advised the manufacturer that I will need that part delivered to my house early in the morning on Saturday so that I can take it with me on my overseas trip. That request triggered the shipper to use an overnight delivery company to insure the Saturday delivery, however, that Delivery Company showed up at my door steps while I was boarding the plane. Yes, I called them all morning to verify the estimated delivery time but, they had no idea and could not commit to a time frame. I even called five minutes before I left my house for the airport to offer to meet with their driver and pick up the part, no can do.
Needless to say, I predicted the demise of this company and sure it happened, they are no longer in business as they were bought out by another company.
So what does that mean to me as sales professional? Well, what was missing in that story I just mentioned? If your answer is information, you got it. If I had some information from the manufacturer, I could have alerted the delivery company and possibly picked up the part on my way to the airport.
If information was that critical in the 90's, how is it today? Believe me, it is everything in today's business and personal world. So, as a sales professional, information provided to your customer can make you or break you. Responding to your customer's information needs in a timely manner is equally critical, why? Because your competition will deliver the information if you don't and you may not recover from that setback.
Have you ever heard the old saying “you don't get a second chance to make a first impression "? That is very true in most cases in the business world. You may get lucky and get a second chance, I did, but, don't count on it.
Remember, People buy from people who they trust and can depend on.

Business to Business Selling

So many schools of thoughts on business to business selling have surfaced since the 1900's, from the pyramid style selling to the door to door cold calling and prospecting, to the tactical selling and finally, the strategic selling. Wow, so many thoughts and only one goal, closing that sale.

So what do you need to know here? Is it one particular method of selling that would help you succeed? Does your method depend on the client that you're dealing with? Or is it the product or service that you are selling that would dictate the method? Well, if you agree that customers are not alike, then you would agree that each customer requires different approach; however, never forget, you are still dealing with people not machines. You will not press a button and the contract will be signed. So what method do you need? It is not the method, it is the knowledge that you have about your customer that would help you to use the right approach.

In today's market place, your competition spends money to copy your success; you must stay ahead and build a solid business relationship with your customer.

So, what customer do I use what method for? I think that is a reasonable question, and I can tell you, if you are selling a copier contract, you will need less presenting work than if you are selling a long distance service or a hotshot delivery service. So, what is the difference? Well, selling a copier requires knowledge of the machine, features, benefits and warranty. But if you're selling long distance service, you need to know if your customer has out of state business and or International calling and faxing needs. You see, it takes us back to the knowledge about who we're selling to.

When selling a product, you need to:
1. State features, Benefits and warranty
2. Know how does your product stack up against the competition
3. Know why should the customer use your product
4. Develop post contract-signing relations with your customer
When selling services, you need to:
1. Get to know your customer's business
2. Know what kind of relationship your customer has with the competition
3. Know who decides and who influences him from within (you need both on your side).
4. Present your services that are geared to the needs of your customer's business
Remember, there are two fatal mistakes that could shorten your career in sales, promising what you cannot control or deliver and not responding to a customer's need after the sale.

A Used Car Salesman?

How many times have you heard that before? What's wrong with a used car salesman? He is trying to sell you a car to make $100 commission and he will do whatever it takes to accomplish that mission. So, what's wrong with that? well, despite the fact that it is an honest way of making a living, statistics show that the used car buying experience can be very upsetting for 7 out of 10 customers. Why? Let’s see, what did the used car salesman say that turned you off? Did he overstate the features of the used car? Did he use tactics that were not appealing to you? Did you feel pressured to buy? Or did you not feel comfortable with his sugar coated promises?
Now you get the picture, here are the fatal mistakes of the sales professional:
1. Overstating the features of the product
2. Tactical selling that could backfire
3. Using pressure selling techniques
4. Over promising
Remember, you are selling to people, and they can only buy from the person they trust. Never commit the grave mistake of focusing on your mission instead of your customer's goal of buying.