Solution selling

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Type and style of sales and selling methodology

title: "Solution selling" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["business-to-business", "selling-techniques"] description: "Type and style of sales and selling methodology" topic_path: "general/business-to-business" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_selling" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Type and style of sales and selling methodology ::

Solution selling is a type and style of sales and selling methodology. Solution selling has a salesperson or sales team use a sales process that is a problem-led (rather than product-led) approach to determine if and how a change in a product could bring specific improvements that are desired by the customer. The term "solution" implies that the proposed new product produces improved outcomes and successfully resolves the customer problem. Business-to-business sales (B2B) organizations are more likely to use solution selling and similar sales methodologies.

Academic Reception and Efficacy

The effectiveness of solution selling has been examined in academic and business literature, which has explored both its positive impacts and its limitations in complex sales environments.

Research in the Journal of Marketing found empirical support for the benefits of a solution-oriented approach. A study of business-to-business customers showed that when a supplier engaged in solution-oriented selling, it positively influenced customer loyalty and led to them purchasing a greater share of their needs from that supplier. Other studies have focused on the difficulty of implementing solution selling, noting that it requires salespeople with a complex set of skills, including a high degree of product and customer knowledge, interpersonal skills, and cognitive abilities to diagnose nuanced problems.

A significant critique of solution selling emerged in the early 2010s, arguing that the methodology had become less effective because of increasingly well-informed customers. Research published in the Harvard Business Review argued that, due to the availability of information online, sophisticated customers often diagnose their own solutions before ever engaging with a salesperson. In these situations, a salesperson who insists on a lengthy discovery process is seen as redundant or unhelpful. This research formed the basis for The Challenger Sale, a competing methodology which posits that salespeople should focus on teaching customers a new perspective on their business rather than just diagnosing existing, well-understood needs.

Origins of solution selling and terminology

Frank Watts developed the sales process dubbed "solution selling" in 1975. Watts perfected his method at Wang Laboratories. He began teaching solution selling as an independent consultant in 1982. He presented his sales process as a one-day workshop to Xerox Corporation in 1982. By 1983 Electronics magazine would portray solution selling as "an unmistakable trend in the distribution of systems-related products". | year = 1983 | journal = Electronics | volume = 56 | pages = 92 | title= Electronics | publisher = McGraw-Hill | accessdate = 2011-10-15 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PVBWAAAAMAAJ | quote = The solution sale is an unmistakable trend in the distribution of systems- related products and is simply what the business is all about. In a 1984 account Dick Heiser could look back to IBM's pre-1975 "solution sale" methodology. | author = Lunch Group | editor = Steve Ditlea | title = Digital deli: the comprehensive, user-lovable menu of computer lore, culture, lifestyles, and fancy | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FYIfAQAAIAAJ | accessdate = 2011-10-16 | year = 1984 | publisher = Workman Pub. | isbn = 978-0-89480-591-2 | page = 71 | quote = He'd worked for IBM at one time and liked their 'solution sale' approach to business - first find out what is needed, then come up with an answer.

Mike Bosworth founded a sales training organization known as Solution Selling in 1983, based on his experiences at Xerox Corporation (the Huthwaite International SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff) selling pilot project Compare | last = Sant | first = Tom | title = The giants of sales: what Dale Carnegie, John Patterson, Elmer Wheeler, and Joe Girard can teach you about real sales success | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tcXIcylsfzoC | accessdate = 2011-10-14 | year = 2006 | publisher = AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn | isbn = 978-0-8144-7291-0 | page = 31 | quote = [...] Xerox [...] adopted the IBM sales model [...]. And from the Xerox professional sales methods, either directly or by inspiration, have arisen many of the most successful sales approaches used in our own time - Professional Selling Skills, Strategic Selling, Solution Selling, SPIN Selling, and many others. ) and began licensing affiliates in 1988. With intellectual-property contributions from his affiliate network, Bosworth's methodology continued to evolve through the years. He sold the intellectual property in 1999 to one of his original affiliates, Keith M. Eades.Keith Eades is CEO and founder of . Bosworth author two books on the topic of "creating buyers in difficult selling markets". Bosworth, Michael. Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets, McGraw-Hill, 1994. Bosworth, Michael; Holland, John. CustomerCentric Selling, McGraw-Hill, 2003. In 2003, Eades authored an updated version of the solution-selling methodology released as The New Solution Selling | last = Eades | first = Keith M. | title = The new solution selling : The revolutionary sales process that is changing the way people sell | year = 2003 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = New York | isbn = 0-07-143539-5 | pages = 299

While 'solution selling' has become a generic term in many sales and selling organizations, Solution Selling as a brand denotes distinct characteristics. | title = Handbook of business strategy | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lN8bAQAAMAAJ | accessdate = 2011-10-16 | year = 2003 | publisher = Warren, Gorham & Lamont | page = 64 | quote = The VP of sales believes reps should present only those products that speak to identified needs, and sponsors sales training based on this 'solution sale' assumption.

Solution selling in management contexts

The advent of solution selling may have an impact on business models and on organization practices. | first1= Henning | last1= Kagermann | author-link1 = Henning Kagermann | first2= Hubert | last2= Österle | author2-link = Hubert Österle | first3= John M. | last3= Jordan | title = IT-Driven Business Models: Global Case Studies in Transformation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qm2QX0ABiS8C | accessdate = 2011-10-15 | year = 2010 | publisher = John Wiley and Sons | isbn = 978-0-470-61069-5 | page = xiii | quote = The switch from product to solution sales calls for new price structures [...] that until recently would have generated far too much administrative outlay. More important, the entire sales process and value proposition must be rethought and restructured. In nearly every case that we have seen, merging products and services into solutions requires a change to the business model and the supporting business concepts. Eades and Kear discuss solution-centric organizations and the focal role of solution sales in such environments. | last = Eades | first = Keith M |author2=Robert E. Kear | title = The solution-centric organization | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YrV5ygFAlO4C | accessdate = 2011-10-15 | year = 2005 | publisher = McGraw-Hill Professional | isbn = 978-0-07-226264-3 | page = 98 | quote = Aligning compensation and reward programs with a solution-centric approach involves ensuring that behaviors that lead to more solution sales are rewarded. Robert J Calvin compares some of the financial implications of various type of sales: transactional sales, value-added sales, solution sales, and feature/benefit sales. | last = Calvin | first = Robert J. | title = Sales Management | series = McGraw-Hill executive MBA series | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4EvbC_KNjSAC | accessdate = 2011-10-14 | edition = 2 | year = 2004 | publisher = McGraw-Hill Professional | isbn = 978-0-07-143535-2 | pages = 105, 138 Robert L Jolles proposed that, among managers and salespeople, a chosen solution is not always the best solution.{{cite book | last = Jolles | first = Robert L | title = The Way of the Road Warrior: Lessons in Business and Life from the Road Most Traveled | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rxoXo4rV9FMC | accessdate = 2014-11-23 | edition = 1 | year = 2005 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | isbn = 978-0787980627 | page = 112

References

References

  1. (2007). "The Effects of Solution-Oriented Selling on Customer Loyalty and Purchase Behavior". Journal of Marketing.
  2. (2018). "A Trait-Based Framework for Assessing the Sales Force's "Solution Selling" Ability". Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.
  3. (July 2012). "The End of Solution Selling". Harvard Business Publishing.
  4. "Entering the Store Age".
  5. 0-8144-7291-5

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