2. ADAPTIVE SELLING FOR RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
chapter 6
ADAPTIVE SELLING FOR RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTER ARE:
What is adaptive selling?
Why is it important for salespeople to practice adaptive selling?
What kind of knowledge do salespeople need to practice adaptive selling?
How can salespeople acquire this knowledge?
How can salespeople adapt their sales strategies, presentations, and social styles to various situations?
Page 148
6-2
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

3. “No matter what you are selling, the most important thing to understand is what type of social style you are and be able to identify what type of social style your customer is.”
~Ashley Braine Dell
Page 149
6-3
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

4. Standard Memorized Presentation
Also called a canned presentation
Completely memorized sales talk
Ensures salespeople will provide complete and accurate information
Limited effectiveness
Can be delivered at low cost by unskilled salespeople
Page 150
6-4
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

5. Outlined Presentation
Prearranged presentation that usually includes:
Standard introduction
Standard Q&A
Standard method for getting the customer to place an order
Effective because it is well organized
Page 150
6-5
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

6. Customized Presentation
Written and/or oral presentation based on a detailed analysis of the customer’s needs
Allows the salesperson to demonstrate empathy
Provides greatest opportunity to adapt to customer needs
Can be very costly, requiring highly skilled people to analyze the customer’s needs
Pages
6-6
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

7. Adaptive Selling and Sales Success
The customized presentation illustrates adaptive selling.
Adaptive selling forces the salesperson to practice the marketing concept.
The world is made up of diverse people.
Salespeople should adapt to the customer’s desire for a specific type of relationship.
Adaptive selling gives salespeople the opportunity to use the most effective sales presentation for each customer.
Pages
6-7
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

8. Knowledge Management Product and company knowledge
Salespeople need to have a lot of information about their products, services, company, and competitors.
Knowledge about sales situations and customers
Pages
6-8
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

9. Knowledge Management (continued)
How to create knowledge
Top company salespeople
Feedback from sales managers
Other sources of knowledge
Web
Company sales manuals and newsletters
Sale meetings
Plant visits
Business and trade publications
Competitor displays at trade shows
Viewing competitor’s Web pages
Page
6-9
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

10. Knowledge Management (continued)
Retrieving knowledge from the knowledge management system
Customer relationship management systems
Electronic sales partner
Page 155
6-10
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

11. The Social Style Matrix
Popular training program that companies use to help sales people adapt their communication styles
Identify which of the four types you are
Identify which of the four types your customer is
Adjust your behavior to mirror or match your customer
Page 155
6-11
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

12. Dimensions of Social Styles
Assertiveness
The degree to which people have opinions about issues and make their positions clear to others
Speak out
Make strong statements
Unassertive people:
Rarely dominate a social situation
Often keep their opinions to themselves
Pages
6-12
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

13. Dimensions of Social Styles (continued)
Responsiveness
Based on how emotional people tend to get in social situations
Readily express joy, anger, and sorrow
Concerned with others
Informal and casual in social situations
Less responsive people:
Devote more effort to control emotions
Are cautious, intellectual, serious, formal and businesslike
Page 156
6-13
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

14. Indicators of Assertiveness
Page 156
6-14
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

15. Indicators of Responsiveness
Page 156
6-15
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

16. Social Style Matrix
Page 157
6-16
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

17. Selling to Various Social Styles
Drivers
Use a direct, businesslike, organized presentation with quick action and follow-up
Expressives
Demonstrate how products will help the customer achieve personal status and recognition
Amiables
Build a personal relationship
Analyticals
Use solid, tangible evidence
Pages
6-17
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

18. Identifying Customer’s Social Styles
Concentrate on the customer’s behavior and disregard how you feel about the behavior
Avoid assuming that specific jobs or functions are associated with a social style
Test your assessments
Page 159
6-18
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

19. Cues for Recognizing Social Styles
Page 159
6-19
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

20. Social Styles and Sales Presentations
There is no one best social style for a salesperson.
Effective selling involves more than communicating product benefits.
Salespeople must recognize the customer’s needs and expectations.
The salesperson’s personal social style tends to determine the sales technique he or she typically uses.
Pages
6-20
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

21. Versatility
Versatile salespeople are much more effective than salespeople who do not adjust their sales presentations.
Pages
6-21
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

22. The Role of Knowledge
Sales people learn the cues for identifying the four customer categories or types.
Salespeople learn which adjustments they need to make in their communication style to be effective with each customer type.
Pages 162
6-22
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

23. Adjusting Social Styles
Page 162
6-23
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

24. Systems for Developing Adaptive Selling Skills
It is imperative that salespeople adjust to their audience
Training methods such as the social style matrix and expert systems are simply a first step in developing knowledge for practicing adaptive selling
Salespeople should avoid rigidly applying the classification rules
Pages
Expert system
Computer program that mimics a human expert.
6-24
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

25. Summary
Extensive knowledge of customer and sales situation types is a key ingredient in effective adaptive selling.
Experienced salespeople organize customer knowledge into categories.
The social style matrix illustrates the concept of developing categorical knowledge to facilitate adaptive selling.
The social style matrix is one example of a categorical scheme salespeople can use to improve their knowledge and adaptability.
Page 164
6-25
McGraw-Hill/Irwin