Solution selling

Solution selling is a type and style of sales and selling methodology. Solution selling has a salesperson or sales team use a sales process that is a problem-led (rather than product-led) approach to determine if and how a change in a product could bring specific improvements that are desired by the customer. The term "solution" implies that the proposed new product produces improved outcomes and successfully resolves the customer problem. Business-to-business sales (B2B) organizations are more likely to use solution selling and similar sales methodologies.

Origins of solution selling and terminology

Frank Watts developed the sales process dubbed "solution selling" in 1975.^{[citation needed]} Watts perfected his method at Wang Laboratories. He began teaching solution selling as an independent consultant in 1982. He presented his sales process as a one-day workshop to Xerox Corporation in 1982. By 1983 Electronics magazine would portray solution selling as "an unmistakable trend in the distribution of systems-related products".^[1] In a 1984 account Dick Heiser could look back to IBM's pre-1975 "solution sale" methodology.^[2][3]

Mike Bosworth founded a sales training organization known as Solution Selling in 1983,^[4] based on his experiences at Xerox Corporation (the Huthwaite International SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff) selling pilot project^[5]) and began licensing affiliates in 1988. With intellectual-property contributions from his affiliate network, Bosworth's methodology continued to evolve through the years. He sold the intellectual property in 1999 to one of his original affiliates, Keith M. Eades.^[6]

While 'solution selling' has become a generic term in many sales and selling organizations, Solution Selling as a brand denotes distinct characteristics.^[7]

Solution selling in management contexts

The advent of solution selling may have an impact on business models and on organization practices.^[8] Eades and Kear discuss solution-centric organizations and the focal role of solution sales in such environments.^[9] Robert J Calvin compares some of the financial implications of various type of sales: transactional sales, value-added sales, solution sales, and feature/benefit sales.^[10] Robert L Jolles proposed that, among managers and salespeople, a chosen solution is not always the best solution.^[11]

See also

• Presales

References

1. "Electronics". Electronics. 56. McGraw-Hill: 92. 1983. Retrieved 2011-10-15. The solution sale is an unmistakable trend in the distribution of systems- related products and is simply what the business is all about.
2. Lunch Group (1984). Steve Ditlea (ed.). Digital deli: the comprehensive, user-lovable menu of computer lore, culture, lifestyles, and fancy. Workman Pub. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-89480-591-2. Retrieved 2011-10-16. He'd worked for IBM at one time and liked their 'solution sale' approach to business - first find out what is needed, then come up with an answer.
3. "Entering the Store Age".
4. Sant, Tom (2006) "The giants of sales: what Dale Carnegie, John Patterson, Elmer Wheeler, and Joe Girard Can Teach You About Real Sales Success." Amacom books. ISBN 0-8144-7291-5
5. Compare Sant, Tom (2006). The giants of sales: what Dale Carnegie, John Patterson, Elmer Wheeler, and Joe Girard can teach you about real sales success. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8144-7291-0. Retrieved 2011-10-14. [...] Xerox [...] adopted the IBM sales model [...]. And from the Xerox professional sales methods, either directly or by inspiration, have arisen many of the most successful sales approaches used in our own time - Professional Selling Skills, Strategic Selling, Solution Selling, SPIN Selling, and many others.
6. Keith Eades is CEO and founder of "Sales Performance International".. Bosworth author two books on the topic of "creating buyers in difficult selling markets". Bosworth, Michael. Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets, McGraw-Hill, 1994. ISBN 978-0-7863-0315-1
   Bosworth, Michael; Holland, John. CustomerCentric Selling, McGraw-Hill, 2003. ISBN 978-0-07-142545-2
   In 2003, Eades authored an updated version of the solution-selling methodology released as The New Solution Selling Eades, Keith M. (2003). The new solution selling : The revolutionary sales process that is changing the way people sell. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 299. ISBN 0-07-143539-5.
7. Handbook of business strategy. Warren, Gorham & Lamont. 2003. p. 64. Retrieved 2011-10-16. The VP of sales believes reps should present only those products that speak to identified needs, and sponsors sales training based on this 'solution sale' assumption.
8. Kagermann, Henning; Österle, Hubert; Jordan, John M. (2010). IT-Driven Business Models: Global Case Studies in Transformation. John Wiley and Sons. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-470-61069-5. Retrieved 2011-10-15. The switch from product to solution sales calls for new price structures [...] that until recently would have generated far too much administrative outlay. More important, the entire sales process and value proposition must be rethought and restructured. In nearly every case that we have seen, merging products and services into solutions requires a change to the business model and the supporting business concepts.
9. Eades, Keith M; Robert E. Kear (2005). The solution-centric organization. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-07-226264-3. Retrieved 2011-10-15. Aligning compensation and reward programs with a solution-centric approach involves ensuring that behaviors that lead to more solution sales are rewarded.
10. Calvin, Robert J. (2004). Sales Management. McGraw-Hill executive MBA series (2 ed.). McGraw-Hill Professional. pp. 105, 138. ISBN 978-0-07-143535-2. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
11. Jolles, Robert L (2005). The Way of the Road Warrior: Lessons in Business and Life from the Road Most Traveled (1 ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 112. ISBN 978-0787980627. Retrieved 2014-11-23.