Why should you practice consultative selling instead of. Everyone sells solutions hoping they can charge a premium or perform some miracle that will instantly differentiate them from their competitors. 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. 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. For a start, the vast majority continue to use a consultative selling or. It really has nothing to do with helping the customer. They will head online to research their problems and find possible solutions, long before ever contacting any potential suppliers. Solution selling is an excellent vehicle to teach new salespeople critical sales skills and allow experienced salespeople to fine tune their skills.
Five reasons why consultative selling outperforms the challenger. It enables sellers to make the way they sell as big an advantage as their product or service. Why should you practice consultative selling instead of productbased selling. So what are the salespeople who fail to generate value doing so wrong. The powerful and proven solution sellingr process, updated for todays highspeed, higherpressure sales challenges.
Lessons learned from consultative selling book mohamed. 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. There is a lot of wisdom and experience packaged in this book, as well as a very. The solutionselling methodology isnt just for the sales team. Jun 03, 2010 consultative selling for professional services book launch duration. Rather than just promoting an existing product, the salesperson focuses on the customers pains and addresses the issue with his or her offerings. Imagine for a moment that you have come down with the flu. Increased competition and customers greater access to information and sophistication shifted the focus of a sales call from the seller to the buyer. The new solution selling expands the classic texts cases.
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. Consultative selling is about working with the client to identify their business needs. This very practical approach worked and this is where i made my living for more than a decade. 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. Mike bosworth is probably the smartest guy i ever met in the sales training world. 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. Being able to hold a conversation around benefits and value isnt that easy but it can be mastered with practice and guidance. 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. Mar 26, 20 sales why consultative selling doesnt work forget becoming a trusted adviser. Modern buyers are a lot more sophisticated and informed than they used to be. If you are a new b2b salesperson, this list is a curriculum. This book is more about the strategies and tactics of winning major accounts. Consultative selling is far more difficult than transactional selling. Today it is almost impossible to meet a product salesperson in the businesstobusiness sector.
The original solution selling rewrote the rules for the sales profession. Praise for previous editions of consultative selling. This is somewhat different from the original consultative selling, as coined in the early 1970s by mack hananin a book well worth reading. It will certainly ease you to see guide consultative selling vs solution as you such as. The solution selling matrix is a perfect tool to define an initial solution for.
The term is associated with the sales of products and services that can be used as the building blocks of a custom implementation. Nearly 10 years ago, the influential bestseller solution selling literally rewrote the rules for selling bigticket, longcycle products. Selling the way your customer wants to buynot the way you like to sellis what you will discover in this breakthrough book. Integrity selling selling solutions and training for. We adopt a new approach, perhaps calling it solutions, consultative. If a product or service resolved the pain, you were then the true solution. Instead of taking a conventional solutionsales approach, he used an insight selling strategy, revealing to the customer needs it didnt know it had. In a transactional sale, value lies within the product and price becomes the primary selection criteria.
Whats the difference between consulting and consultative. Eades is a required reading for the enfusen sales staff, and a mustread for anyone in the. As such, any silos or archaic compensation strategies that impede solution selling. The term solution infers that the proposed new product produces improved outcomes.
Consultative selling made its appearance in the 1970s and, since then, has gained popularity in just about every industry and service. 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. Sometimes this is also referred to as solution based selling. Product versus solution selling business 2 community.
The term consultative selling can get thrown around a lot. Jan 01, 2018 lessons learned from consultative selling book january 1, 2018 november 10, 2018 mohamed sami the consultative selling. 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. You cant properly offer a solution until an issue has been identified. Solution selling is common in areas such as construction services, software and outsourcing sales. Solution selling is a process to take the guesswork out of difficulttosell, intangible products and services. How to build a tailored solution for your prospects.
Solution selling is a type and style of sales and selling methodology. On the other end of the selling spectrum is consultative selling. Apr 14, 20 explaining the solution selling to insight selling gap. The new solution selling expands the classic texts. Solution selling has a salesperson or sales team use a sales process that is a. Solution selling is the best methodology ive seen for placing emphasis on business issues rather than product. Why you should use the solution selling process lucidchart.
Historically, solutionbased selling was the expected methodology for achieving goals. 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. Sometimes this is also referred to as solutionbased selling. Product selling compared to consultative selling sales. Solution selling is the end result of a proper consultation. The interaction becomes more of a relationship than a transaction. Consultative selling vs transactional selling read more.
If you arent positioning your organization as a consultative, solution selling resource you are falling behind because, rest assured, your competition is. This is why we allow the books compilations in this website. After reading this book, salespeople and sales managers will be able to use a welltested model that guides them through the process of selling. Bosworth author two books on the topic of creating buyers in difficult selling markets.
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. Nov 20, 2018 the term consultative selling first appeared in the 1970s book consultative selling by mack hanan. What do you see as the difference between consultative. If you want to change your sales force into a consultative selling machine, then you must invest heavily in the right training. 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. Consultative selling vs solution selling salesstar. 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. These 9 essential books will help you to build a foundation upon which to build a successful career in businesstobusiness sales. Consultative selling vs transactional selling john. However, solution selling in the promotional products industry has also been refined into value proposition selling. One of the most intuitive books on the market for selling. Xyz stands for the type of solution your client is looking for. 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.
In a consultative sale, the salesperson creates value. 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. Approximately 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, and 50% of small businesses fail in their fifth year. The new solution selling shows how to apply the proven solution selling approach in the cantstoptotalk pace of todays business. The result is a logical and practical process for sales success, one that improves both individual productivity and organizational return on investment. Advantages of consultative selling over traditional. For some sellers, thats meant moving away from solution selling to a more. Creating buyers in difficult selling markets, was brilliant, and full of great. 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. 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. Product versus solution selling partners in excellence. 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.
Oct 29, 2007 mike bosworth is probably the smartest guy i ever met in the sales training world. 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. Selling consultatively resembles consulting in some regards, but ends with presenting a single brand as the best solution. Consultative selling for professional services book launch duration. And management often ignorant of the subtle differences between selling products or services and selling solutions become frustrated when. That is, how does your product or service impact the customers productivity, profitability, operating costs and downtime. It has less to do with what the customer is buying and more to do with why. Over the past few decades, solution selling hasbecome more broadly defined to include dimensions of. Pipeliner crm empowers snap selling pipeliner crm is designed very much along the same sorts of principles as snap selling. Rackhams follow up is in some ways more important than spin selling.
Any salesperson who hears price as an objection is selling transactionally. The longawaited sequel to solution selling, one of historys most popular selling guides. 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. These statistics are a reality with many factors that come into play. A must read for anyone in sales or business in general. Consultative selling by mack hanan macks recipe works as promised. The b2b selling landscape is transforming and nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the rise in popularity of consultative selling. 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. The consultative sales process is most especially not about you. Consultative selling is a philosophy rooted in building a relationship between you and your prospects. Sales why consultative selling doesnt work forget becoming a trusted adviser. Lessons learned from consultative selling book mohamed sami. So, a very strong recommendation if you need to learn, or teach, sales to other. Solution selling is the most comprehensive sales and sales management process available today.
Solution selling is the process of selling the customer a solution to their problems as opposed to a product or service. Why does consultative or solution selling no longer work. 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. Besides yourself, who else is impacted by this pain and how. The solution selling methodology has evolved as key components of professional selling evolve. But, to offer the best solution, the salesperson must first develop an understanding of the customers business, industry, and needs. Solution selling, consultative selling, challenger selling is all about uncovering needs so you can position your solution. Proposing a solution in a consultative way demands for a throughout understanding of the pains behind the identified needs. 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 7 stages of the solution selling process simplicable. Consultative selling for professional services book.
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. The term consultative selling first appeared in the 1970s book consultative selling by mack hanan. Consultative versus transactional b2b selling lead forensics. The salesperson, in turn, uses that information to select the best possible product or service to meet a need. The salesperson, in turn, uses that information to select the best possible. Whether you are a new or experienced seller, this book is a must read. Diagnosing buyer pain parts of this post adapted from the solution selling fieldbook 2005, mcgrawhill, isbn 9780071456074 by eades, touchstone and sullivan. Whereas transactional selling is about the product, consultative selling is about value. The sections on your dream clients needs at each stage of the buying process alone make it work it worth reading.
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