The rules of evolution are also applicable to selling.

For decades salespeople have been successful with solution selling. That’s what we have grown up with. Until today, I think most salespeople are currently solution sellers. You, your colleagues, and your competitor sales reps too. It is a familiar sales approach used in all sales channels, from Telesales Executives to Strategic Account Managers. But everything comes to an end, and the rules of evolution are also applicable to selling.

Remain relevant and inspirational to buyers.

Our sales approach needs to change. Selling from the Buyer’s Perspective is what customers require us to do. Our sales minds need a shift from me-focused to other-focused. We need a change from discovering customer dissatisfaction to a business conversation where the customer discovers something about themselves. Let’s sum up the main differences because you can only move on from Solution Selling if you have a clear view of what Selling from the Buyer’s Perspective really is.

	Solution Selling	Selling from the Buyer’s Perspective	Check
Sales Person’s Mindset	Focus on my success	Focus on the customer’s success
Discovery Process	Linear, following a sales process	Non-linear adapted to the buyer’s process
Discovery Objective	Features of products and services that fit customer needs	Insightful information relevant to the customer’s business challenges
Sales Person’s Information	Creating consensus that a change makes sense for the business, because of clear strategic advantages	Let the customer discover something about themselves, like the risks of their status quo
Acumen	Sales Acumen. Sales conversations	Business Acumen. Business conversations
Value Focus	Differentiator value	Game-changing, strategic value
People	Finding the decision-maker	Facilitating discussions with several stakeholders
End goal	Closing the deal	Creating consensus that a change makes sense for the business because of clear strategic advantages

According to Gartner, potential suppliers need to make it easier for customers to buy digitally and in person. At the moment, that is not the case. While customers are after certain information, solution sellers keep asking too many questions only for their own benefit. 77% of buyers agree that purchasing is very complex. 81% think that their organization is paralyzed by uncertainty. And this is one of the main reasons they fall back into their status quo. They prefer a fix over a change. We need to help buyers make sense of their very complex world. Even confronting them with the risks we see for them of not changing.

So for us salespeople, the one million-dollar question is, how can we make buyers want to talk to us again? Exactly, through Selling from The Buyer’s perspective. At the next opportunity with one of your dream prospects, ask yourself, can you tick all the new selling skills boxes (in the above table)? Only then have you moved on from Solution Selling.

I am always looking forward to feedback. Feel free to share with your network