5 Solution Selling Best Practices to Consistently Hit Your Quota

Solution selling best practices help when sales are slipping
Too many sales leaders and managers sense a lack of enthusiasm (or downright complacency) in their sales force.  They are not sure they are following solution selling best practices.  They question if they have the right level of sales talent, sales commitment, sales conviction, and engagement to meet ever-increasing growth targets.

Five solution selling best practices
Do you and your sales team need a boost in clarity, confidence and performance?  Take a look at the following business sales training best practices that can help to improve sales performance. Be honest in your assessment of what’s going right or wrong so you can apply the right amount of sales performance pressure in the right way to get the right results.

1. Hire and Retain the Right Sales People
   The general solution selling best practices advice is to hire slowly and fire quickly. This means not settling for hiring less than your ideal salesperson. If you want to thrive, patience with talent really pays off.We know from sales leadership simulation assessment data that if you hire a low performing sales rep, not only will they not produce as you need, but they will also drag down the morale and performance standards of the rest of the team.  To retain your hard-working and motivated sales reps, you need to monitor everyone’s performance, hold them accountable to the expectations you have set, and move non-producers elsewhere.
2. Be Clear on Uour Unique Sales Proposition (USP)
   What is it that makes your solution better, faster, or cheaper from others in your marketplace in the eyes of your target buyers? Know what sets your company apart and ensure that everyone, from accounting to sales and service, can articulate the definition of your ideal target client, and what specifically distinguishes you from your competition.
3. Provide Helpful Sales Tools and Ongoing Learning Opportunities
   Don’t let your sales team fall behind. Keep them engaged and continuously improving with individual development plans that give them relevant, immediately useful, proven ways to get better results day-by-day.  And don’t be stingy with the technology, processes, practices, solution selling training, or tools that they need to succeed.

   You will know you are on the right track when they believe they have the necessary sales skills, knowledge and resources to be successful.

4. Establish a measurable sales process
   When you have a common sales methodology and language, you can keep track of what’s working and what’s not. If, for example, you find you are losing sales to the competition before you even have a chance to propose a solution, step back and ask some questions.

   —  Are you targeting the right customers?
   —  Do your sales reps know how to identify what matters most to their prospects?
   —  Can they articulate how your solutions link to customer priorities?
   —  Do they understand how to add value and build a trusting relationship?

5. Reward Sales Success
   All of us, but those in sales especially, like to be recognized and rewarded for reaching goals. Find a meaningful and fair way to recognize sales reps’ achievements. Sometimes it takes just simple, public recognition. Other times a differentiated bonus or special perk may keep a sales rep’s energy and commitment high.

The Bottom Line
If your sales results are disappointing, it is up to you to do all you can to reverse the downward trend. With the right sales strategy, culture, people, and plan, you can set your sales team back on the path to success.

Want to learn more field-tested solution selling best practices?  Download 30 Sales Questions More Important than Budget

by Tristam Brown: CEO

Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.