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Solution Selling or Selling Solutions
Posted by Colin Wilson
In May 08
In my experience the title of this post often causes a lot of confusion particularly with organisations that look to transform themselves from selling products to selling solutions. I have come across various companies in my time that have stated they need to do Solution Selling without really defining what they mean or what they need. Saying you need Solution Selling is in many cases is akin to saying you need a Hoover, when in fact you mean a vacuum cleaner.
Solution Selling
The words Solution Selling dates back to the end of the eighties when Michael Bosworth registered the words ‘Solution Selling’ as a trademark. He had a sales training company that specialised in a certain methodology and he wrote and published a book called, would you believe, Solution Selling. Subsequent to that Michael sold his business and Sales Performance Internal took over the mantle of Solution Selling and I would like to recognise that they have the trademark.
Selling Solutions
Now that we are over the confusion and we are not really talking about a methodology we still have to deal with the idea of selling solutions. Many product focused organisations want to move their people away from selling… products… to selling solutions without really understanding what it takes. Many product businesses start adding services and other products to extend their offering so that instead of one thing they can sell many things… a complete solution… which should not be confused in any way with a partial solution.
A solution can be defined as… a method of successfully dealing with a problem or difficulty… which is a definition I gleaned from the Encarta Dictionary and as such I hope I’m not breaking any Microsoft licence agreement in using this definition…. and therefore following this definition a pencil can be a solution to the problem of needing to write a note. Or perhaps the pencil is a partial solution as a full solution would include the paper… however, the problem was not the lack of paper, but the lack of something to use to write on the paper and therefore the pencil is a full solution after all… confused?… I am and I’m writing this!
Solutions need Problems
In some ways this solution dilemma is very nicely summed up by Bertrand Russell the English Logician & Philosopher (1872 – 1970) who apparently once said…
“The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”
Or indeed, the other problem with selling solutions is also nicely summed up by G K Chesterton the Novelist & Poet (1874 – 1936) who also apparently said…
“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.”
So, if you are selling solutions then you need to link them to problems. Solutions resolve problems. However, in today’s environment linking to just problems is not enough.
Problems need Business Issues
Budgets are getting tighter… justification for expenditure more rigorous… and therefore deals less frequent. If you are in sales and you want to prosper you need to evolve your skills from the ‘walking talking brochure’ to addressing business issues. A business issue is something the CEO and his / her team will spend personal time resolving. For example, the green issue. Many organisations and in particular the large corporates will have a stated green policy. The want to and must be seen to be reducing their carbon footprint. It’s a business issue that leads to many problems, such as the need to reduce power consumption, and each problem can have more than one solution.
In summary… selling solutions… you can start by defining the business issue, then understanding the problems and finding solutions. Or, alternatively you can start with a solution, then understand the problems it is addressing and then link these to the business issue. Whatever way you go you will either start or finish up with addressing the business issue and if you do that you are more likely get the attention of the people who ultimately hold the budget… which can’t be bad… can it?
4 Comments
Colin,
This is an interesting reminder that we are all trying to deliver results. In sales, we all too often get caught up in what we are trying to accomplish, instead of what our potential buyers are trying to do. If we shift our thinking to problem solving and difference making, we tend to see greater returns.
KG
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Colin,
I really enjoyed this post because it got me thinking. Every salesperson is really a solution provider.
The car salesman solves transportation issues, mortgage bankers housing issues, and the hot dog vendor hunger issues… The real key to solution based selling is determining what the real problem is understanding it, and then formulating a solution to the problem.
Most salespeople assume a solution to a perceived problem than then try to force the customer into their box.
If we want to bee seen as solution providers we need to act like one…
-Brad
Colin,
Selling solutions to customers problems requires an understanding of the problem as you have correctly stated. Unfortunately, most sellers a) don’t have any idea how to uncover the client’s problems or b) never speak to the person with the problem (choosing instead to speak to the assigned agent.) As a result, the solutions don’t even address the problem half the time!