Читать книгу Elite Sales Strategies - Anthony Iannarino - Страница 19

As the environment changed and companies demanded more from their suppliers or partners, labels that suggested a greater obligation than one might reasonably expect from a vendor, the new legacy solutions approach provided greater value to both the customer and the sales organization. The major shift in this period is best illustrated by the idea of discovery. Instead of the salesperson just sharing information about products and services, the first conversation morphed into a series of questions designed to find the prospect's dissatisfaction, their pain point, or their hot button. These conversations were—and are— still more valuable than the legacy laggard approaches. If your sales conversations focus on finding a problem that fits your company's solution, you're still using a legacy solution approach.

Salespeople who used a legacy solution approach still tried to answer “why us,” but they added “why our solution” to the mix. As solutions grew more complex and became more critical to a company's business results, the decision-maker gave way to the buying committee or task force, the group of people charged with deciding what to buy and from whom. Not only would the salesperson have to overcome objections, but they'd also be required to provide proof that the solution would work for this particular client. In a legacy solution approach, the solution is the value, and the salesperson provides value by solving the client's problem, getting us about halfway to an approach that is consultative.

Before we go any further, please don't worry if your approach is cobbled together from both legacy approaches. I used both models myself early in my career, and they were genuinely useful before rapid market changes caused me to adapt a more modern approach, focusing on creating enough value to win deals.