Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets

An excellent book. The author takes the approach of trying to understand the buyer's latent pain, and transform that into a purchasing decision. Instead of selling, the salesperson facilitates the buyer buying the product through self analysis and asking the right questions. The sales cycle is looked at from a risk and reward profile, and the approach is both sound and straightforward. While the author has a tendancy to emphasize his other seminars and training methods - available at additional cost - the approach he takes here is enough to really make you think. Complete with scripts, examples, case studies and straightforward "do-this" suggestions, this is a must read.

If you are in the Presales world and want to understand how to do really good Discovery work, you need this in your kit bagWhile this may not be sufficient, it is a necessary part of what you need to know.Know the nine box model - that is a great start in how to run a discovery session.

I've never been a fulltime salesperson, but in one of my previous incaranations, a few years back, I was a jack of all trades, sales being one of them. The only way for me to be aware of the tricks of the trade was through sales books, and Solution Selling was one of the many that I turned to.The emphasis here is on solving a buyer's need as against trying to sell him a product/service. Bosworth says that the sales person should act as a buying facilitator or consultant intent on helping the customer solve his need -he talks about 3 levels of buyer needs- and then presenting his product/service as one that will solve the problem. That way, in the mind of the buyer, the salesperson has more integrity and the buyer gains confidence in the intent of the salesperson, i.e., a "spray and pray" approach isn't the one to take.Bosworth indentifies what he calls as the "10 faces of pain"; these are the ones that make the salesperson's job a difficult one. They are,1. Latent Need (buyer doesn't know the need)2. Price Negotiation (haggling buyer)3. Cold call 'window of opportunity' (cold call, Argg!)4. Organizational interdependence and access to power (the particular buyer you're in touch with do not have much buying power)5. Product or service viewed as 'commodity'6. Requests for proposal (often, responding to this is a waste of time and energy)7. Free education (some prospects use you to know more about what's out there in the market)8. Buyer gets cold feet9. Booking appointments over the phone (difficult to do)10. Buyer has been to negotiating school (hard negotiators)So what's Bosworth's solution to these pains?1. Recognize the Three Levels of Buyer Need (need that is hidden; need which the buyer is conscious about; the third need is vision related)2. Features, Advantages, and Benefits (make sure you're coming across as someone interested in solving the prospect's problem and not merely trotting out your features)3. Participate in the Buyer's Vision4. Solution Selling Tools (use them effectively)5. Align With the Buyer's Shifting Concerns (you've to be in sync with the thoughts and concerns of the buyer)6. Lead the Buyer and Stay Strategically Aligned7. Advance the Buyer's Vision With Value Justification8. Control the Process, Not the Buyer9. Draw the Line in Price Negotiations10. Implement the Solution Selling Process (which is the sum of all of the above)The book is divided into 3 parts; part 1 is about the pains encountered in the selling process; part 2 is about the suggestions to overcome them; part 3 is shows field examples.A capable salesperson would know all of this --minus the specific tools and approaches he mentions here-- naturally; the book can be used to validate their beliefs. For the others, it will open them up to a new way of thinking about sales.I read a relatively recent article online where Bosworth dumps his previous approaches and says that stories are the way to go; "You use your storytelling ability to retell the customer's story, and then confirm - by asking - whether you've actually got the story right. Then, and only then, are you ready to sell, because then you can retell the customer story with a different ending or a new sequel, with your offering playing a role in the story." Now you know that he is a master salesman and a storyteller who is selling the world new ways to sell!

Well, there were a couple of pearls of wisdom but I agree with a couple of other reviewers, the author overcomplicates things. I especially loved the beginning of the book regarding the salesperson's assessment of the customer's pain. This is the main pearl of wisdom I used with my sales team and it was pretty well received. The 3 levels of pain that a customer goes through may be just enough education for you to buy this book.

After you've learned how to differentiate yourself from others in the field it's time to learn and apply simple but effective methods of putting money into your pocket.Solution Selling is to Selling the same as Do It Marketing is to Marketing... Simply some of the Best Advice out there.

This book guides you through a consultative sales approach, Where you define the pain and understand the client's needs and cost. With that valuable information, it allows you to solve problems and create an ROI for success.

I bought this as supposedly new, but when it arrived, there was no book jacket at all and there is highlighting through the “Strategy 3” Chapter. I initially thought it was very strange that there was no book jacket and then when I got to the chapter with highlighting, that confirmed my suspicion that this was not new even though that was the condition I paid for.

I really like the book, it arrived in perfect condition and even faster than expected. I was told that it will arrive in 3 weeks time, but it got here faster.The book is the original one, has all its pages and it is great!

Good

普通です。

Se il vostro lavoro è nel commerciale o nelle vendite non potete non studiare questo manuale: vedrete che molti degli esempi riportati e le tecniche di vendita spiegate sono concrete e risultano molto utile nelle attività quotidiane. Ho sempre sostenuto che la vendita sia in parte una predisposizione/attitudine (diciamo per un 30%) ma per il resto è una scienza e come tale va considerata. Non è l'unico libro per migliorare le tecniche di vendita ma sicuramente è il primo che consiglierei a tutti. Buono studio e buone vendite a tutti.

I was recommended this book by my mentor, who said it'd be appropriate for the business I founded (we're a rapidly growing government funding advisor/facilitator).I read it, and about halfway through, ordered a copy for my entire sales team and gave them a task for this month to read it. There is a lot of wisdom and experience packaged in this book, as well as a very sensible system for structuring the sales process. We're still using our own system at this point, but we will probably update our sales process to match (well, after the sales team finishes reading it, at the very least).So, a very strong recommendation if you need to learn, or teach, sales to other people who are not necessarily naturals at it.

libro difficile da reperire altrove. scritto in modo chiaro con molti esempi.vale il prezzo richiesto.Arrivato in ottimo stato