In Alexander Group’s annual Sales Pulse Survey, 70% of the 111 participating Fortune 1000 sales executives told us that “better solutions” will be a critical component of their 2011 growth strategy. No other means of differentiation, from “better products” to “better prices” even comes close.
What does this mean? The role of the sales person in finding and customizing the right solutions for their customers is moving the sales organization and its management team into an increasingly prominent role. Decisions these executives make on enabling sellers to position and deliver these “better solutions” will spell the difference between success and failure of most growth strategies.
As a result survey participants are looking to increase their investment in:
- Improving the sales process by better leveraging vertical and solution expertise to improve the win rate…as well as ROI
- Increasing the amount of selling time available to all sellers and specialists by shifting lower value activities to less critical positions
- Delivering more and better information to sellers about their customers and the available solutions through improved data bases and point of sale technology
If solution selling plays a prominent role in your 2011 growth strategy, be sure your sellers are positioned to deliver the value that a successful solution sales strategy requires.
Learn more about AGI’s Sales Growth strategies.
About the Author
Gary Tubridy is a senior vice president of the Alexander Group and the general manager in charge of the firm’s management consulting business. Gary’s consulting work is focused on increasing marketing and sales effectiveness with particular emphasis in technology and medical products industries. Gary has deep expertise in diagnosing sales management issues and helping clients execute action plans to improve results. His research is focused on best practices of leading sales organizations in North America with particular emphasis on sales force transformation and the role of sales leadership. He leads the Alexander Group executive events series and hosts the Operations and Executive Forums. He is one of three founding stockholders of the Alexander Group.
Gary has been with the Alexander Group for over 35 years. Prior to that, Gary was in sales with the IBM Corporation. Gary holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.