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1-Page Summary of The New Solution Selling

What is a Solution?

A solution solves a problem. It must be measurable, meaning that there is a before and after point of change. The focus is on the customer’s problems instead of the organization’s products.

There are two types of salespeople:

1. Eagles

Some salespeople are good at asking questions and conversing. They have good intuition and the ability to understand what others are saying.

2. Journeypeople

80% of salespeople are not as good at selling as they could be. They use canned presentations and pitches, and tell buyers what to do instead of asking them questions first. On the other hand, 20% of buyers are innovators who buy new products right away. Another 80% are conservative people who don’t like change, so they wait until everyone else is using a product before buying it themselves.

In fact, simple multiplication will show you that:

• The early adopters of an idea are only 4% of the population. 16% of the people are pragmatic, conservative and late adopters.

• Most salespeople are not natural conversationalists. They also don’t naturally know what their customers want, even if they’re intuitive and good at problem-solving. That’s because most salespeople meet with pragmatic, conservative people who aren’t early adopters.

The Principles of Solution Selling

Selling is about helping others to solve their problems. There are a few principles that underlie this idea: *

• No one is immune to the problems that affect a company. Salespeople should ask themselves questions before they try to sell their product or service. They can also diagnose how much pain their prospect has, and what he or she might be looking for in terms of a solution. People may not know about their pain; they may think it’s normal and just part of life. Some people want solutions immediately, while others don’t care as long as they’re comfortable with what they’ve got now. A salesperson needs to figure out which group his or her prospect falls into before trying to make a sale by asking these questions:

• When trying to sell a product, the salesperson must consider whether the buyer has the power to decide on a solution. The salesperson also needs to be sure that they and the buyer see things in the same way. It’s important for there to be real value in what is being sold, and it’s crucial for both parties involved to agree that there is value. If all of these conditions are met, then you can control your prospect’s decision-making process by suggesting ways he or she could approach making decisions about buying your product or service.

The Sales Process

In order to make it easier for journeymen (those who are not yet masters) to become successful like eagles, you need a clear, standardized sales process. That means implementing a repeatable system that can be used over and over again.

In order to be successful in selling, you must understand the buyer’s process of buying. You should align your sales process with that buyer’s process. You need measurable objectives and tools to help you succeed in each step of the sales process. Managers should provide those resources so their employees can be more efficient at selling.

• Managers should also keep track of the likelihood that a process will succeed.

How to Plan and Prepare

The best way to sell is by doing research and planning. You need to identify potential prospects, analyze them, and prepare a data sheet on each one. This includes information like:

• A company’s name and description, its products, its position in the market and problems it faces. A summary of financials and trends as well as biographies of key management team members. The message should address the problem that is affecting the organization. Before making a call, sketch out how pain from this problem flows through an entire organization. Research will show where that pain is located within an organization. Salespeople who understand their prospects’ situations have an advantage over traditional salespeople who only seem to understand their own products