Selling is all about delivering value to the customer. In B2B (Business-to-Business) sales, this fundamental is too often forgotten. Instead, salespeople:
1. Tell customers how great their (the salesperson’s) company is
2. Tell customers all the features of their great products
3. Try to win the business by schmoozing, buying lunches or buying drinks
None of these methods work. What we all forget is that the customer has a problem and needs a solution. The job of the salesperson is to determine the customer’s exact problem, to sell that problem (so the customer understands how painful it really is), and then to clearly demonstrate how the salesperson’s products or services solve the painful problem.
The essential book about B2B Sales Training is Neil Rackham’s Spin Selling. In the attached presentation, I combine Rackham’s ideas with some of my own to offer you a B2B Sales Training 101.
I hope that you find it useful as it refreshes all of our memories about how to sell well.
David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 