The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer Driven World

The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer Driven World

by Keith M. Eades, Timothy T. Sullivan
Released March 2014
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118872420

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Book description

Buyer behavior has changed the marketplace, and sellers must adapt to survive

The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in Today's Customer-Driven World is the definitive guide to the new reality of sales. The roles of buyers, sellers, and technology have changed, and collaboration is now the key to success on all sides. The Collaborative Sale guides sales professionals toward alignment with buyers, by helping them overcome their problems and challenges, and creating value. From building a robust opportunity pipeline and predicting future revenues to mastering the nuances of buyer conversations, the book contains the information sales professionals need to remain relevant in today's sales environment.

Buyers have become more informed and more empowered. As a result, most sellers now enter the buying process at a much later stage than the traditional norm. The rise of information access has given buyers more control over their purchases than ever before, and sellers must adapt to survive. The Collaborative Sale provides a roadmap for adapting through sales collaboration, detailing the foundations, personae, and reality of the new marketplace. The book provides insight into the new buyer thought processes, the new sales personae required for dealing with the new buyers, and how to establish and implement a dynamic sales process. Topics include:

  • Selling in times of economic uncertainty, broad information access, and new buyer behavior

  • Why collaboration is so important to the new buyers

  • The emergence of new sales personae - Micro-marketer, Visualizer, and Value Driver

  • Buyer alignment, risk mitigation, and the myth of control

  • Situational fluency, and the role of technology

  • Focused sales enablement, and buyer-aligned learning and development

  • Implementation and establishment of a dynamic sales process

    • The book describes the essential competencies for collaborative selling, and provides indispensable supplemental tools for implementation. Written by recognized authorities with insights into global markets, The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in Today's Customer-Driven World is the essential resource for today's sales professional.

    Table of contents

    1. Cover Page
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. Contents
    6. Foreword Dave Stein
    7. Preface
    8. Acknowledgments
    9. Definitions
    10. Part I: Foundations of the Collaborative Sale
      1. Chapter 1: “The Story” and What's behind The Collaborative Sale
        1. The Collaborative Sale
        2. What Is Sales Collaboration?
      2. Chapter 2: Solution Selling Meets the New Buyer
        1. The Emergence of the New Buyer—Buyer 2.0
        2. The Effect of Information Access on Buyer 2.0 Behavior
        3. The Millennials Are Coming
        4. The Effect of Economic Uncertainty on Buyer 2.0 Behavior
        5. Buyer 2.0 versus Buyer 1.0
        6. Adapting to the Buyer 2.0 Paradigm
        7. The Relevancy of Solution Selling and the Evolution of the Collaborative Sale
        8. The Story (Continued)
      3. Chapter 3: What the New Buyers Expect: Situational Fluency
        1. Seller Agility
        2. Situational Fluency
        3. Components of Situational Fluency
        4. Hiring for Situational Fluency
        5. Developing Situational Fluency
        6. Technology's Role in Situational Fluency
    11. Part II: Three Personae of the Collaborative Sale
      1. Chapter 4: The Micro-Marketer Persona
        1. Why Be a Micro-Marketer?
        2. Micro-Marketers Demonstrate Situational Fluency—With Constraint
        3. Micro-Marketers Create Their Own Personal Brand
        4. Planning and Executing a Micro-Marketer Strategy
        5. Enabling the Micro-Marketer Persona
        6. The Story (Continued)
      2. Chapter 5: The Visualizer Persona
        1. What Is a Visualizer?
        2. Buyer States and Strength of Vision
        3. Visualizer Conversations
        4. Embracing the Visualizer Persona
        5. The Story (Continued)
      3. Chapter 6: The Value Driver Persona
        1. Focusing on Value
        2. What Is the Value Driver Persona?
        3. Using a Collaboration Plan—A Buyer Alignment and Risk Mitigation Strategy
        4. The Myth of Control
        5. Create an Online Collaboration Site
        6. Collaborating to Close
        7. Enabling the Value Driver Persona
        8. The Story (Continued)
    12. Part III: Making the Collaborative Sale a Reality
      1. Chapter 7: Establishing a Dynamic Sales Process
        1. Buyer-Aligned Sales Process
        2. Dynamic Sales Process
        3. Automating Dynamic Sales Processes
        4. Expanding the View of Sales Process
        5. Sales Process Enables Management and Marketing
      2. Chapter 8: Coaching the Collaborative Sale
        1. Sales Management Cadence
        2. Motivation
      3. Chapter 9: Implementing the Collaborative Sale
        1. Right Process: Buyer-Aligned Learning and Development
        2. Right People: Talent Assessment and Analytics
        3. Right Tools: Focused Enablement
        4. Committing to Success—Individually and Organizationally
    13. Epilogue
    14. Afterword
    15. Appendix
      1. Essential Competencies for The Collaborative Sale
      2. Additional Collaborative Selling Tools
    16. Contributors
      1. Keith M. Eades
      2. Timothy T. Sullivan
      3. Robert Kear
      4. James N. “Jimmy” Touchstone
      5. Dave Christofaro
      6. Kenneth Cross
      7. Tamela M. Rich
    17. Index

    Product information

    • Title: The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer Driven World
    • Author(s): Keith M. Eades, Timothy T. Sullivan
    • Release date: March 2014
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9781118872420