What is Solution Selling?
Over many years, I have had a recurring conversation about the definition of "Solution Selling." Note that I put it in title case. Yes, I mean a very specific term that was coined, I believe, by Mike Bosworth. All credit to Bosworth, I have not studied Solution Selling all that much, but what I did take away from it was the concept of finding out what was bothering (my terminology) the customer and then figuring out how to help them solve the problem. Very much a diagnosis and prescription process.
The conflict that comes up, however, is when salespeople (or anyone, for that matter) feels that solution selling is the act of selling the whole damned enchilada to the customer. People have this impression that solution selling is figuring out a way to make sure that the customer has one of everything, whether they need it or not, and two of most things on the price list. In my books, this is not Solution Selling, this is flogging product.
It sounds like it is a good thing if the customer buys everything. Bigger dollars. Nice commission. But, is it likely that you will get lots of customers doing this? And if your objective is to sell them everything, and the customer is bright enough to realize that they don't need everything (or your competitor is selling better than you are and is not forcing the whole catalogue on the customer), is there a risk that you will lose customers? Absolutely. They feel pressured or that you just don't understand them and they go elsewhere.
On the other hand, what if you took the time to completely understand them, what they are trying to achieve, what their goals are, and only tried to sell to them those things that you have in your kit bag that will help them to achieve what they want to achieve? Are you more likely to make a sale? Yes. Is that customer more likely to come back for more when they need it? Yes. Will they trust you the next time you suggest something? Yes. Long term will you earn more? Yes.
This is a difficult discussion when we are not all selling the same stuff, so I cannot use a common product shorthand for examples. But lets say you work at Best Buy in the computer department. A customer comes in and starts asking about computers. A solution sales oriented person starts thinking about the computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, external hard drive, mouse pad, web cam, headphones... you get the drift. On the other hand, someone who is Solution Sales oriented will start asking questions: "What kind of computer do you have now?", "Why do you think you need a new computer?", "What do you do on the computer?", "Why, in your opinion, do you think the current computer is acting like this?", "What are you trying to get done right now that is not working well with what you have?", "Who else uses it?". Somewhere along the line, if you are a smart salesperson, you will focus in on exactly what is bugging the customer. Maybe he is working with photos for the first time after buying a new camera 6 months ago. The hard drive is chock full of snapshots, and is gasping for breath. OK, you could sell him a whole new computer, but is that really the solution? Actually, a whopping big external hard drive with USB2 connection will probably give him a lot of relief. He doesn't really want a new computer (god forbid the hassle when he/she gets home with a new computer and spouse is still nagging about the $1500 spent on the camera six months ago).
In this case, sell a backup drive now, and when it really is time for the new computer, that person will come back and trust the advice.
Solution Selling is asking more questions than talking about the "solution." It is about asking, "Why" at times that other people might just take whatever the customer just said. For example, a customer buying a computer might say, "I need more RAM." Sure, you could flat out sell them more RAM, but what happens when you ask, "Why?" In the prior example, the customer may have been told by someone that more RAM makes a computer run faster. Theirs is currently slow because the hard drive is 95% full. More RAM won't do a thing for speeding up the computer. So, why sell them RAM?
"Why?" is probably the most powerful question one can ask, and is the hallmark of a Solution Salesperson. "Why is that a problem for you?" "Why do you think that will make a difference?" "Why is this happening in your environment?" "Why do you run your business this way right now?" "Why are you looking for a change?"
The next most common question is, "How?" "How do you want it to happen?" "How do you do things now?" "How hard is it to achieve the goals you have set for this area?" "How have you tried to fix the problem for yourself already?" "How effective was that for you?"
If you don't know more about the customer's problems/goals/objectives and why they are important than they do, before you start talking about your products and services, you are not Solution Selling.
The conflict that comes up, however, is when salespeople (or anyone, for that matter) feels that solution selling is the act of selling the whole damned enchilada to the customer. People have this impression that solution selling is figuring out a way to make sure that the customer has one of everything, whether they need it or not, and two of most things on the price list. In my books, this is not Solution Selling, this is flogging product.
It sounds like it is a good thing if the customer buys everything. Bigger dollars. Nice commission. But, is it likely that you will get lots of customers doing this? And if your objective is to sell them everything, and the customer is bright enough to realize that they don't need everything (or your competitor is selling better than you are and is not forcing the whole catalogue on the customer), is there a risk that you will lose customers? Absolutely. They feel pressured or that you just don't understand them and they go elsewhere.
On the other hand, what if you took the time to completely understand them, what they are trying to achieve, what their goals are, and only tried to sell to them those things that you have in your kit bag that will help them to achieve what they want to achieve? Are you more likely to make a sale? Yes. Is that customer more likely to come back for more when they need it? Yes. Will they trust you the next time you suggest something? Yes. Long term will you earn more? Yes.
This is a difficult discussion when we are not all selling the same stuff, so I cannot use a common product shorthand for examples. But lets say you work at Best Buy in the computer department. A customer comes in and starts asking about computers. A solution sales oriented person starts thinking about the computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, external hard drive, mouse pad, web cam, headphones... you get the drift. On the other hand, someone who is Solution Sales oriented will start asking questions: "What kind of computer do you have now?", "Why do you think you need a new computer?", "What do you do on the computer?", "Why, in your opinion, do you think the current computer is acting like this?", "What are you trying to get done right now that is not working well with what you have?", "Who else uses it?". Somewhere along the line, if you are a smart salesperson, you will focus in on exactly what is bugging the customer. Maybe he is working with photos for the first time after buying a new camera 6 months ago. The hard drive is chock full of snapshots, and is gasping for breath. OK, you could sell him a whole new computer, but is that really the solution? Actually, a whopping big external hard drive with USB2 connection will probably give him a lot of relief. He doesn't really want a new computer (god forbid the hassle when he/she gets home with a new computer and spouse is still nagging about the $1500 spent on the camera six months ago).
In this case, sell a backup drive now, and when it really is time for the new computer, that person will come back and trust the advice.
Solution Selling is asking more questions than talking about the "solution." It is about asking, "Why" at times that other people might just take whatever the customer just said. For example, a customer buying a computer might say, "I need more RAM." Sure, you could flat out sell them more RAM, but what happens when you ask, "Why?" In the prior example, the customer may have been told by someone that more RAM makes a computer run faster. Theirs is currently slow because the hard drive is 95% full. More RAM won't do a thing for speeding up the computer. So, why sell them RAM?
"Why?" is probably the most powerful question one can ask, and is the hallmark of a Solution Salesperson. "Why is that a problem for you?" "Why do you think that will make a difference?" "Why is this happening in your environment?" "Why do you run your business this way right now?" "Why are you looking for a change?"
The next most common question is, "How?" "How do you want it to happen?" "How do you do things now?" "How hard is it to achieve the goals you have set for this area?" "How have you tried to fix the problem for yourself already?" "How effective was that for you?"
If you don't know more about the customer's problems/goals/objectives and why they are important than they do, before you start talking about your products and services, you are not Solution Selling.
Hey Bernie,
ReplyDeleteGreat article. I think it gives a sales person a chance to reflect on what is important and what they might be doing to over sell. Without understanding the need how can you fulfill that need.
Cheers, Joel
Joel,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. I had not really considered that the alternative to my concept of solution selling would result in over selling. Makes sense, though. I guess that is why we see customers turn off.
Regards, Bernie
Bernie:
ReplyDeleteThis blog was an awesome resource. Would love to see you get it started again!
Respectfully,
Paul Castain