Literature Articles

Traditional Selling

Modern Development Selling

Typical 1960s-80s selling and still found today.

Essential to sustain successful business today.

standard product

customized, flexible, tailored product and service

sales function performed by a ‘sales-person’

sales function performed by a ‘strategic business manager’

seller has product knowledge

seller has strategic knowledge of customer’s market-place and knows all implications and opportunities resulting from product/service supply relating to customer’s market-place

delivery service and supporting information and training are typical added value aspects of supply

strategic interpretation of the customer organization’s market opportunities, and assistance with project evaluation and decision-making are added value aspects of supply

good lead-time is a competitive advantage

just-in-time (JIT) is taken for granted, as are mutual planning and scheduling; competitive advantages are: capability to anticipate unpredictable requirements, and assistance with strategic planning and market development

value is represented and judged according to selling price

value is assessed according to the cost to the customer, plus non-financial implications with respect to CSR (corporate social responsibility), environment, ethics, and corporate culture

the benefits and competitive strengths of the products or service are almost entirely tangible, and intangibles are rarely considered or emphasized

the benefits and competitive strengths of the product or service now include many significant intangibles, and the onus is on the selling organization to quantify their value

benefits of supply extend to products and services only

benefits of supply extend way beyond products and services, to relationship, continuity, and any assistance that the selling organization can provide to the customer to enable an improvement for their staff, customers, reputation and performance in all respects

selling price is cost plus profit margin, and customers have no access to cost and margin information

selling price is market driven (essentially supply and demand), although certain customers may insist on access to cost and margin information

seller knows the business customers’ needs

seller knows the needs of the business customers’ customers and partners and suppliers

sales person sells (customers only deal with sales people, pre-sale)

whole organization sells (customers expect to be able to deal with anybody in supplier organization, pre-sale)

sales people only sell externally, i.e., to customers

sales people need to be able to sell internally to their own organization, in order to ensure customer needs are met

strategic emphasis is on new business growth (ie, acquiring new customers)

strategic emphasis is on customer retention and increasing business to those customers (although new business is still sought)

buying and selling is a function, with people distinctly responsible for each discipline within selling and customer organizations

buying and selling is a process, in which many people with differing jobs are involved in both selling and customer organizations

hierarchical multi-level management structures exist in selling and customer organizations

management structures are flat, with few management layers

authority of sales person is minimal, flexibility to negotiate is minimal, approvals must be sought via management channels and levels for exceptions

authority of sales person is high (subject to experience), negotiation flexibility exists, and exceptions are dealt with quickly and directly by involving the relevant people irrespective of grade

selling and buying organization are divided strictly according to function and department, inter-departmental communications must go up and down the management structures

selling organization is structured in a matrix allowing for functional efficiency and also for inter-functional collaboration required for effective customer service, all supply chain processes, and communications

supplier and customer organization functions tend to talk to their ‘opposite numbers’ in the other organization

open communications to, from and across all functions between supplier and customer organization

the customer specifies and identifies product and service requirements

the selling organization must be capable of specifying and identifying product and service requirements on behalf of the customer

the customer’s buyer function researches and justifies the customer organization’s needs

the selling organization must be capable of researching and justifying customer organization’s needs, on behalf of the customer

the customer’s buyer probably does not appreciate his/her organization’s wider strategic implications and opportunities in relation to the seller’s product or service, and there will be no discussion with the seller about this issues

the seller will help the buyer to understand the wider strategic implications and opportunities in relation to the seller’s product or service

the buyer will tell the seller what the buying or supplier-selection process is

the seller will help the buyer to understand and align the many and various criteria within their own (customer) organization, so that the customer organization can assess the strategic implications of the supplier’s products or services, and make an appropriate decision whether to buy or not

1. Pure Transaction

Since time began. Pure transaction is effectively one step removed from stone-age barter.

Basic selling. Standard commoditized products, price and reliability – there is little to build on, business may be spasmodic, hand-to-mouth and unpredictable. There is no relationship other than the transaction.

2. Relationship &Trust

Since the beginning of selling as a profession, popularized by Dale Carnegie, among others, early-mid 1900s

Continuity, consistency, sustainability, and some understanding of the customer’s real issues are seen to have a value by both selling and buying organization. Intangibles such as continuity on communications and contacts, matched styles of trading, mutual flexibility and adaptability, are regarded as relevant benefits by the customer, which can justify a price premium, and therefore offer protection against ‘cheaper’ competitors, and build loyalty to supplier.

3. Management & Information

Operated instinctively in isolated examples in business relationships for centuries, but not generally seen in selling methodology, sales training and strategic application until the 1960s-1970s.

The provision of management and information support by seller to buying organization, and the exchange and cooperation in these areas represent a significant increase in depth and effectiveness of selling relationships.  

 A longer-term supply arrangement – a requirement for and outcome of this level of selling – is seen as an advantage by seller and buyer, because it brings extra intangible benefits of co-operation and support other areas of the customer’s business, e.g., training, technology, product development – which improve the customer’s own competitive strengths and operating efficiencies. The supplier is seen as part of the team, and is likely to be more involved in some of the customer’s own internal systems, meetings, planning, etc.

4. Partnership

A sophisticated open approach to selling which mainly first developed in the 1980s, probably in response to the increasing complexity of business relationships, technology, global markets, etc., and the increasingly fast pace of change. Organizations could be more effective and adaptable by devolving operating responsibilities to suppliers. Very different to merely buying and selling products and services.

The activities of the buying and selling organization become almost seamless wherever they are connected; the supplier is virtually part of the customer’s organization and treated as such. ‘Out-sourcing’ generally requires this degree of collaboration, which involves a level anticipation, innovation and integrated support that is very difficult to un-pick, even if it were in the customer’s interests to do so. Partnership level selling is not a legal or contractual arrangement; it describes the relationship, which operates virtually as a formal partnership would do. There is typically an enormous depth of understanding and cooperation which is not written down or detailed in a contract. Partnership selling relationships generally need time to develop – probably between 1-3 years depending on the size and complexity of the seller and buyer organizations.

5. Education & Enablement

2000 and beyond. The dimensions, scope and impact of this new type of selling are not yet fully developed and defined.

There are signs however that the sellers who can give most to their customers – especially in areas that the customers didn’t even know they had a need or an opportunity – will be the most successful.

The educational and ‘giving’ activities of the selling organization extend the aspects of anticipation and information found in the partnership level. Also incorporated are aspects of facilitative and enabling support, which are for example well represented by Sharon Drew Morgan’s ‘Buying Facilitation‘ methodology.

The seller gives to the customer any and all help it can reasonably offer as might improve the customer’s understanding, interpretation and commercial development of issues relating to the supply area.

This is a hugely sophisticated level of selling which was difficult to see anywhere in the last century. Sellers and selling organizations take the role of teacher, guide, mentor, enabler; which can influence and help customers far beyond commercial and financial outcomes, into previously unimagined strategic business development and considerable change. Internet organizations such as Google are examples of this sort of selling, which at its best can actually give more than it takes.