The solutionselling methodology isnt just for the sales team. Any salesperson who hears price as an objection is selling transactionally. That is, how does your product or service impact the customers productivity, profitability, operating costs and downtime. Nov 20, 2018 the term consultative selling first appeared in the 1970s book consultative selling by mack hanan. In a transactional sale, value lies within the product and price becomes the primary selection criteria. The 7 stages of the solution selling process simplicable. Consultative selling vs solution consultative selling vs solution when people should go to the books stores, search instigation by shop, shelf by shelf, it is truly problematic. The new solution selling shows how to apply the proven solution selling approach in the cantstoptotalk pace of todays business. Jan 29, 2012 consultative selling is a more complex, longterm process involving collaboration of both buyer and seller, in which the latter must first develop an understanding of the customers business.
The term solution infers that the proposed new product produces improved outcomes. Spin selling explains the science behind consultative selling, or rather, presenting an offer to a potential client, based systematically on the clients painpoints, using a powerful questioning process. Solution selling is the most comprehensive sales and sales management process available today. It explores a selling technique in which the salesperson acts as an expert consultant for his or her prospects, asking questions to determine what the prospect needs. How to build a tailored solution for your prospects.
Overview 15 quick solution selling tips to close more sales be sure to download marcs incredible e book on 25 tips to crush your sales goal. Oct 29, 2007 mike bosworth is probably the smartest guy i ever met in the sales training world. Consultative versus transactional b2b selling lead forensics. Besides yourself, who else is impacted by this pain and how.
It will certainly ease you to see guide consultative selling vs solution as you such as. Proposing a solution in a consultative way demands for a throughout understanding of the pains behind the identified needs. Advantages of consultative selling over traditional. Xyz stands for the type of solution your client is looking for. Solution selling is an excellent vehicle to teach new salespeople critical sales skills and allow experienced salespeople to fine tune their skills.
Solution selling, consultative selling, challenger selling is all about uncovering needs so you can position your solution. The longawaited sequel to solution selling, one of historys most popular selling guides. Consultative selling for professional services book launch duration. Solution selling has a salesperson or sales team use a sales process that is a. On the one hand solution selling kind of implies selling a canned solution in search of problems that need it, and consultative selling implies a more custom productservice sell. They will head online to research their problems and find possible solutions, long before ever contacting any potential suppliers. Solution selling is common in areas such as construction services, software and outsourcing sales. The second half of this book was almost completely useless for me, serving as a set of testimonials about how good the solutions selling system is in b2b sales with large clients. If you want to change your sales force into a consultative selling machine, then you must invest heavily in the right training. Consultative selling for professional services book. Why should you practice consultative selling instead of productbased selling. Whether you are a new or experienced seller, this book is a must read. The original solution selling rewrote the rules for the sales profession. As such, any silos or archaic compensation strategies that impede solution selling.
Over the past few decades, solution selling hasbecome more broadly defined to include dimensions of. Selling the way your customer wants to buynot the way you like to sellis what you will discover in this breakthrough book. The b2b selling landscape is transforming and nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the rise in popularity of consultative selling. Today it is almost impossible to meet a product salesperson in the businesstobusiness sector. The sections on your dream clients needs at each stage of the buying process alone make it work it worth reading. Lessons learned from consultative selling book mohamed.
Creating buyers in difficult selling markets, was brilliant, and full of great. Sometimes this is also referred to as solution based selling. Overview 15 quick solution selling tips to close more sales be sure to download marcs incredible ebook on 25 tips to crush your sales goal. The salesperson, in turn, uses that information to select the best possible product or service to meet a need. The new solution selling expands the classic texts cases.
To bring clarity to that question, we will take a step back and compare consultative sales with a more traditional type of selling and in this exercise we will call that product selling. Sometimes this is also referred to as solutionbased selling. So, a very strong recommendation if you need to learn, or teach, sales to other. Selling consultatively resembles consulting in some regards, but ends with presenting a single brand as the best solution. However, solution selling in the promotional products industry has also been refined into value proposition selling. Five reasons why consultative selling outperforms the challenger. Everyone sells solutions hoping they can charge a premium or perform some miracle that will instantly differentiate them from their competitors. Consultative selling by mack hanan macks recipe works as promised. The new solution selling expands the classic texts. The solution selling methodology has evolved as key components of professional selling evolve.
These 9 essential books will help you to build a foundation upon which to build a successful career in businesstobusiness sales. This is somewhat different from the original consultative selling, as coined in the early 1970s by mack hananin a book well worth reading. It enables sellers to make the way they sell as big an advantage as their product or service. Key differences between consultative selling vs traditional transactional selling a consultative sale is different from a traditional sale in that it involves suggesting a tailored solution to the customers problem after listening to their needs, rather than the sole purpose being to sell a specific product that may not meet their unique needs. Rackhams follow up is in some ways more important than spin selling.
While oldschool selling tells us to focus on the features and benefits of our products, solution selling tells us to focus on the value of our solution. The powerful and proven solution sellingr process, updated for todays highspeed, higherpressure sales challenges. Consultative selling is about working with the client to identify their business needs. The term consultative selling first appeared in the 1970s book consultative selling by mack hanan. Mar 26, 20 sales why consultative selling doesnt work forget becoming a trusted adviser. But perhaps the best example of solution selling is the book itself it solutionsells the concept of solution selling, from catching our attention, demonstrating that a problem exists, asking us questions, and finally prescribing a solution. Approximately 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, and 50% of small businesses fail in their fifth year. Consultative selling vs solution selling salesstar. Product versus solution selling business 2 community.
Pipeliner crm solution selling requires an efficient crm, through which can be visibly and easily tracked prospect issues, proposed solutions including exactly which products and services, thoughts on solutions from different decisionmakers, and tasks and activities all the way along the line. Consultative selling is a more complex, longterm process involving collaboration of both buyer and seller, in which the latter must first develop an understanding of the customers business. Nearly 10 years ago, the influential bestseller solution selling literally rewrote the rules for selling bigticket, longcycle products. One of the most intuitive books on the market for selling. Consultative selling is a philosophy rooted in building a relationship between you and your prospects. The term is associated with the sales of products and services that can be used as the building blocks of a custom implementation. Lessons learned from consultative selling book mohamed sami. But, to offer the best solution, the salesperson must first develop an understanding of the customers business, industry, and needs. The hanan formula for highmargin sales at high levels, 7th edition by mack hanan is mainly targeting sales representatives to provide a specific and consistently successful approach and techniques for better sales i read the book and i found that it very helpful and useful for sales representatives. Sales why consultative selling doesnt work forget becoming a trusted adviser.
Consultative selling vs transactional selling read more. This very practical approach worked and this is where i made my living for more than a decade. Praise for previous editions of consultative selling. The result is a logical and practical process for sales success, one that improves both individual productivity and organizational return on investment. The consultative sales process is most especially not about you.
For some sellers, thats meant moving away from solution selling to a more. Jun 03, 2010 consultative selling for professional services book launch duration. This is why we allow the books compilations in this website. Why should you practice consultative selling instead of. Modern buyers are a lot more sophisticated and informed than they used to be. Consultative selling made its appearance in the 1970s and, since then, has gained popularity in just about every industry and service. What do you see as the difference between consultative. The interaction becomes more of a relationship than a transaction. Integrity selling selling solutions and training for. A must read for anyone in sales or business in general. Diagnosing buyer pain parts of this post adapted from the solution selling fieldbook 2005, mcgrawhill, isbn 9780071456074 by eades, touchstone and sullivan. Productfocused selling the transition from productfocused selling to needfocused selling was the direct result of market changes. Why you should use the solution selling process lucidchart. A salesperson who practices consultative selling develops a holistic and nuanced understanding of the buyers needs, and then they try to fulfill those needs with a customized solution.
Whats the difference between consulting and consultative. There is a lot of wisdom and experience packaged in this book, as well as a very. For a start, the vast majority continue to use a consultative selling or. Solution selling is the end result of a proper consultation. The solution selling matrix is a perfect tool to define an initial solution for addressing the pains of a prospect moving into system integration what is causing you to have this pain. The term consultative selling can get thrown around a lot. Why does consultative or solution selling no longer work.
Increased competition and customers greater access to information and sophistication shifted the focus of a sales call from the seller to the buyer. Apr 14, 20 explaining the solution selling to insight selling gap. Eades is a required reading for the enfusen sales staff, and a mustread for anyone in the. Today, the revolutionary yet practical solution selling method remains the primary selling process for salespeople competing in every industry around the world, and in every size of businessfrom the. Solution selling is the process of selling the customer a solution to their problems as opposed to a product or service. Jul 11, 2018 while oldschool selling tells us to focus on the features and benefits of our products, solution selling tells us to focus on the value of our solution. Rather than just promoting an existing product, the salesperson focuses on the customers pains and addresses the issue with his or her offerings. Solution selling is the best methodology ive seen for placing emphasis on business issues rather than product. So what are the salespeople who fail to generate value doing so wrong. Solution selling is a process to take the guesswork out of difficulttosell, intangible products and services.
Consultative selling is far more difficult than transactional selling. Whereas transactional selling is about the product, consultative selling is about value. Solution selling has a salesperson or sales team use a sales process that is a problemled rather than productled approach to determine if and how a change in a product could bring specific improvements that are desired by the customer. It really has nothing to do with helping the customer. Consultative selling vs transactional selling john.
It has less to do with what the customer is buying and more to do with why. Mike bosworth is probably the smartest guy i ever met in the sales training world. You cant properly offer a solution until an issue has been identified. Solution selling refers to the philosophy or practice of uncovering a customers pain points and then providing products and services that address the underlying business problem.
Solution selling is a type and style of sales and selling methodology. After reading this book, salespeople and sales managers will be able to use a welltested model that guides them through the process of selling. Jan 01, 2018 lessons learned from consultative selling book january 1, 2018 november 10, 2018 mohamed sami the consultative selling. And management often ignorant of the subtle differences between selling products or services and selling solutions become frustrated when. The conventional solutionselling wisdom was that the sales teams were trained to align the customers needs to their existing solutions, and then demonstrate why it was better than the competitions solution. Imagine for a moment that you have come down with the flu. If you are a new b2b salesperson, this list is a curriculum. The salesperson, in turn, uses that information to select the best possible. Product selling compared to consultative selling sales.
In a consultative sale, the salesperson creates value. These statistics are a reality with many factors that come into play. On the other end of the selling spectrum is consultative selling. Product versus solution selling partners in excellence. Pipeliner crm empowers snap selling pipeliner crm is designed very much along the same sorts of principles as snap selling. Being able to hold a conversation around benefits and value isnt that easy but it can be mastered with practice and guidance. If a product or service resolved the pain, you were then the true solution. A prospect has very little time and not a great deal of bandwidth to receive your informationhence a crm solution needs to fully empower a salesperson to be able to deal with a prospect rapidly, accurately and powerfully. Bosworth author two books on the topic of creating buyers in difficult selling markets. If you have worked in businesstobusiness sales for some time and havent read these books, you will discoveror be reminded ofsome ideas that will make you even more effective. The hanan formula for highmargin sales at high levels, 7th edition by mack hanan is mainly targeting sales representatives to provide a specific and consistently successful approach and techniques for better sales. We adopt a new approach, perhaps calling it solutions, consultative.
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