The Forum Corporation: New Survey Finds That Traditional Relationship Selling Is Outmoded
Instead, Buyers Are 33% More Likely To Seek Salespeople who provide new ideas on how to succeed in their industry;
'Point of View Selling' is the Future of Complex Sales
BOSTON, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Senior-level decision-makers are far more open to considering buying a new product or service from a salesperson who understands their business than from someone they simply know and trust, according to a survey of 231 decision makers from North America, Asia Pacific, and the United Kingdom by The Forum Corporation, a premiere learning organization. The survey offers surprising findings about what senior-level decision-makers value most in those from outside their business whom they invite to help them understand and solve important problems. Surprisingly, the attributes of understanding a customer's business and industry were far more important to these decision makers than simply knowing them. This has significant implications for what has traditionally been called relationship selling, and indicates that as the business world becomes more complex, companies are looking for expertise and insights more than familiar faces or even low cost solutions.
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"These findings should revolutionize the way senior sales professionals approach their work," said Jeffrey Baker, Forum's vice president and practice leader of sales effectiveness. "Today, customers are looking for sales people to help them create new value, not only respond to needs with solutions and attractive prices. Rather than ask the classic question, 'What's keeping you up at night?' salespeople should now be telling their customers, 'This is what should be keeping you up at night.'"
Sales people are far more likely to engage senior level decision makers in a new sales opportunity by demonstrating their understanding of a customer's business and industry than by relying heavily on an existing relationship with them. It is no longer an effective selling method in today's complex business environment, Baker explained. Salespeople instead must focus on bringing fresh insight to their customers about how to create new value or how to solve important but intractable problems. By initiating an educational conversation and provoking new perspectives about important business issues, vulnerabilities, and opportunities, a salesperson is then able to guide an executive's thinking toward considering the sales person's solution.
This new approach, called "Point of View Selling," also enables salespeople to sell higher in an organization, which is more efficient because decisions are more likely to be made quickly, and orders may be larger.
"As companies consider risk more carefully and have more options for where to invest, executives are looking for proof that a course of action will provide results before they proceed," said Michael Collins, Forum's vice president and executive consultant. "We can see from our research that Point of View Selling works."
Among the survey's key findings:
- Out of 21 criteria, the most likely factor for a buyer in deciding to invite outside resources, such as a salesperson, to explore critical business problems and opportunities with them was if the salesperson "knows my industry"
- The factor that was the least likely of the 21 criteria was if a salesperson "knows me"
- Having a strong reputation ranked 10th
- Providing low-cost solutions ranked 13th
Read complete results here.
Click to see a video or an infographic on Point of View Selling.
To learn more about how to engage senior-level buyers, as well as four practice pillars, click here.
About The Forum Corporation
Forum is a recognized global leader in linking learning to strategic business objectives. Our learning solutions help organizations effectively execute their business strategies by focusing on their most important asset: their people. We provide clients with practical and research-based advice and tailored programs that mobilize employees, accelerate business-initiative implementation, and improve agility. Forum's 40-year legacy as a pioneer and thought leader continues with the release of our latest book, Strategic Speed (Harvard Business Press). For more information, visit www.forum.com, and follow Forum on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/theforumcorp.
SOURCE The Forum Corporation
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