You’ve probably heard of solution selling — it might even be your strategy of choice. It’s a sales methodology that became popular in the 1980s, and it’s based on a pretty simple premise: A salesperson diagnoses their prospect’s (potential buyer) needs, then recommends the right products and or services to accommodate them.
The prospect might not know they have a problem or opportunity, let alone what it looks like, how urgent or important it is, and how they should address it. That makes the salesperson an important resource — one that can help a prospect both understand and react to their situation.
What is solution selling?
Solution selling is a sales methodology where a salesperson holistically considers a prospect’s needs, so they can recommend specific products or services that will best accommodate their individual problems and concerns.
Solution selling is one of the best ways salespeople can sell with empathy. It also takes critical thought and a firm grasp on a prospect’s general circumstances.
In some cases, selling a product for the sake of selling a product can be fairly surface level. Selling a solution runs deeper. You need some degree of knowledge of a prospect’s industry, the unique challenges they face, what similar customers have gone through, and their overall goals to diagnose and present solutions for their problems.
This kind of selling is common among certain businesses and suits some specific situations. Let’s take a closer at those elements.
When Is Solution Selling Used?
Solution selling is ideal for industries with highly customized products and/or packages. For example, a company who offers a cloud storage platform along with maintenance and security services will probably create a unique bundle for each of its customers.
The salesperson will figure out how much data her prospect needs to store, how many devices he’ll be accessing his files on, what kind of extra features and support he’ll need, and so forth.
