The New Solution Selling by Keith M Eades
The New Solution Selling by Keith M Eades
McGraw Hill, USA, 2004
ISBN: 0-07-143539-5
As its title indicates, The New Solution Selling addresses the corporate sales environment where the core product is highly integrated into the client’s operations, rather than being a product that is dropped off and left to meet a simple need. The solution selling principles were introduced ten years ago by Michael Bosworth.
It may be useful to divide the book’s content into two parts:
- Insights into the corporate buying process
- Methodologies for effective selling
Concerning insights into the corporate buying process, it will be immediately apparent to the reader that the insights presented in the book are a must-read for any business-to-business (B2B) sales manager or salesperson. Many key concepts are identified, for example, the concept of pain and the pain chain. Pain arises from a problem or need facing a manager. The pain chain refers to the knock-on effect that one manager or department’s pain has on another department. Salespeople that can identify the pain chain and address it put themselves in a strong position to win business.
Another key principle is that the seller must get into Column A. The reference there is to a typical evaluation sheet used by a buyer. Column A lists the supplier that is the likely first choice. Sellers in Column B, C, D, and the rest, are usually there merely as “column fodder”, that is, suppliers used for price and feature comparisons but with no real hope of winning the business. The book teaches that salespeople must learn walk away from “opportunities” in which they are not in Column A and have little hope of getting into it.
Of more debatable value is the book’s extensive methodologies aimed at providing B2B salespeople will tools for selling solutions. There is no perfect methodology. However, the one presented in the book has been adopted by Microsoft, providing weighty evidence of its worth.
It is difficult to imagine the average salesperson putting all of the principles into practice, and therein lies the rub. The real benefit of a body of knowledge such as this can only be experienced when it is put into practice in its entirety. Many a sales manager will be tempted to extract a few principles and then fall back on a wing-it approach. Ideally the principles should be taught by consultants, with follow up to ensure that they are put into practice. Without this sales managers may find the knowledge to be learned and skills to be mastered are too numerous. Nevertheless, this book will yield value even if its principles are poorly implemented. It is critical that sale personnel move away from an outdated approach to selling, the kind that emphasised subtle wording, lists of how to overcome objections, and – most important of all - closing techniques.
The New Solution Selling should at least convince the reader that such a shift is necessary.
– Bruce Conradie, Managing Director, Razor's Edge Business Intelligence
