Why The Death of Solution Sales Is Good For Business

I recently read this article in the Harvard Business Review that flatly announced the death of solution sales. As a solution salesperson by training, it obviously piqued my interest. 

After reading it, I had an epiphany: the current shift shouldn’t have marketers worrying about solution sales’ demise. Instead, we should be excited about the birth of inbound sales!

As the article states, and as I’ve come to find out in recent years, the modern customer no longer needs marketers to go through the tedium of setting of problems for our products and services can solve. Today’s consumer is informed. They know what their problems are. They come to US to help solve them. 

Consumers today use the internet to do much of the legwork that a solutions salesperson traditionally would do for them. This means marketers rarely have to deal with the demoralizing tedium of cold-calling, knocking on doors or setting up meetings with prospects who are, frankly, not in the mood to be sold to. 

A more informed consumer base means that an astonishing 60% of customers already know what solutions they’re looking for. So, if you’re not fast-forwarding your marketing premise to tell them precisely how you aim to solve their problems, you stand little to know chance of winning their business. 

Here are 3 things marketers must do to embrace the inbound marketing phenomenon: 

#1. Create content that speaks to an informed consumer. 

How do you address the person who understands, at least from a basic standpoint, the types of solutions you bring to the table; one who's been researching their business problems and the possible solutions that exist? 

The conversation between marketer and consumer has forever changed. 

So, are you a stubborn solution salesperson, still sitting around wondering if you can hand out brochures to anyone who will listen? Or, are you waking up to the fact that there’s no one left to hand those staid brochures out to? 

I, for one, am embracing this new era of inbound marketing – and am doing all that I can to serve the empowered and informed modern consumer. If you’d like to learn more about the strategies that are working for me, shoot me an email at mparent@inbound281.com.