The Evolution of Selling

The evolution of sellingMarked by four major breakthroughs

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Original Model New Model

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Customer acquisition

The first major breakthrough (1910)The separation of selling and account management functions

Account mgmt.

Customer acquisition

Account mgmt.

The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

The second major breakthrough (1925)The introduction of selling techniques

Introduced selling techniques

• Features and benefits

• Objection handling

• Closing

• Open and closed ended questioning

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Important because..

• Makes selling a learnable skill

• Gives rise to sales training discipline

The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

Edward Strong’s selling model had several limitations

• Emphasis on communicating features and benefits (i.e. demonstrating capability)

• Limited emphasis on uncovering customers’ unmet needs

• Result: – Sales reps talking at customers rather than with them– Negative perception of sales people as pushy

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The Third Major Breakthrough (1970s)Birth of solution selling h emphasis on investigative techniques

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1. Opening

2. Investigating

3. Demonstrating capability

4. Validating

5. Closing

The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

Sales flow

2. Investigating

Driven by two major insights

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1. Opening

2. Investigating

3. Demonstrating capability

4. Validating

5. Closing

1. Customers value what they

say & their conclusions

more than what they are told

2. Customers value what they

ask for more than what is

freely offered

Failure to close is often due to

incomplete investigating

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Common allocation of rep selling time in 1970s

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More optimal allocation of timeIncreased focus on uncovering needs

“Investigating” Objectives

1. Help customers articulate the problems that they face

2. Help customers quantify the size and scope of their problems and opportunities

3. Help customers draw their own insights and conclusions

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SPIN* selling approach was created

• Situation questions

• Problem questions

• Implication questions

• Need-payoff questions

11Source: Huthwaite Consultants

• How many customers do you serve on an average day?

• What is the biggest challenge you face in fulfilling customer orders?

• What happens when customer orders aren’t fulfilled properly?

• If you could fulfill 10% more customer orders each day, would you consider making a small change?

Example

The solution selling model has several limitations

• Assumes customers know what their unmet needs are

• Assumes that customers are willing to pay a premium for solutions to problems that they have already identified

• Assumes customers have time and desire to educate us

• Assumes purchasing departments will grant customers access to the solutions that are generated

• Requires reps and their home office support teams to be able to tailor solutions to customers’ needs in a timely manner

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Solution selling report card

• Majority of sales rep interactions with customers remain social or service calls with no solution presented

• Reps continue to spend disproportionate amount of time demonstrating capability of existing products and services

• Few reps able to uncover needs that customers haven’t already uncovered themselves

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Lack of progress results in de-emphasis on selling skills and h emphasis on other disciplines

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It also results in search for better selling model

Summary

• First major breakthrough is selling came in 1910 with the separation of the sales and account management functions

• Edward strong introduced the concept of teachable selling techniques in 1925 but this model resulted in an emphasis on push selling

• Solution selling emerged in the 1970s based on the insight that sales reps that engage in a two-way dialog with customers are better able to understand their needs and tailor their offerings accordingly

• The failure of solution selling to create sustainable advantage has resulted in the search for a more effective model

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