1. Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
Chapter 5
Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building

2. Types Of Presentations
Standard Memorized Presentation (Canned)
Completely memorized sales presentation
Ensures that the salesperson will provide complete and accurate information about the firm’s products and policies
Effectiveness limited – no interaction
Outlined Presentation
Prearranged presentation that lists the most important sales points to be discussed when calling on a customer
Can be very effective because it is well organized/natural/flexible

3. Continued Customized Presentation
A written and/or oral presentation based on a detailed analysis of the customer’s needs
Presentation builds respect
Allow for expressing empathy
The company may want to bring in a specialist

4. Adaptive Selling: The important of knowledge
Adaptive selling- selling behavior and approaches are altered during a sales interaction or across customer interactions, based on information about the nature of the selling situation
Forces the salesperson to practice the marketing concept
Selecting the appropriate sales strategy for a sales situation and making adjustments during the interaction are crucial
Does not mean the salesperson should be dishonest

5. Knowledge and Adaptive Selling
Knowledge is a key ingredient in selling
(Product, company, customer, and competitors)
Enables the salesperson to build self-confidence, gain the buyer’s trust, satisfy customer needs, and practice adaptive selling
Challenger sales model – built on the importance of salesperson’s expertise in his/her related field – they understand the prospect’s business BETTER than the prospect

6. Product and Company Knowledge
Purchasing agents rate product knowledge as one of the most important attributes of good salespeople
Generally, the service provided is more important than the performance of the product
The most important knowledge is how the product will satisfy the customer’ needs (not technical details)
Need to watch competitive offerings
International salespeople must recognize that customers in different cultures can seek different benefits for the same product

7. How to create knowledge
Ask other salespeople
Role play selling situations/practice
Get feedback from sales managers/professors
Go to training events
Use CRM systems to store/access information – Netsuite, Salesforce.com

8. Retrieving Knowledge
Cloud computing – Customer Relationship management – CRM
Using a CRM has a positive impact on adapting while in a sales call
Genius management – tapping into in-house experts
Tagging – including key words with a person’s name on web pages & documents

9. Read Manuals and Trade Publications
Outlets of resources for the companies industry include:
sales manuals, newsletters, sales meetings, plant visits and business and trade publications
Keys to a successful salesperson:
understand your company
ask questions about new programs and products
collect competitors information

10. Organizing Knowledge Of Sales Situations and Customers Into Categories
It is very important to know information about the different types of sales situations and customers salespeople may encounter and which sales presentation works best in each situation
Develop categories to reduce complexity of selling and free up their mental capacity to think more creatively
Leads to better performance in many areas, not just in personal selling
Used to focus on benefits the customer seeks, the person’s role in the buying center, the stage in the buying process, or the type of buying situation
International salespeople need to avoid stereotyping buyers on the basis of their national origin

11. Develop an Intrinsic Orientation Toward Your Work (Not in text)
Intrinsic orientation- get rewards from doing the job itself
Extrinsic orientation- views their job as something that has to be done, either to get extrinsic rewards (e.g., more pay) or to avoid punishments (e.g., getting fired)
Selling frequently emphasizes extrinsic rewards
Note: This information is not included in the latest edition of text, but is important

12. The Social Style Matrix: A Training Program For Building Adaptive Selling Skills See course packet or P. 137 for self-assessment
A popular training program that companies use to assist salespeople in adapting their communication styles
David Merrill and Roger Reid discovered patterns of communication behaviors, that people use when interacting with one another

13. Dimensions Of Social Styles
Assertiveness- the degree to which people have opinions about issues and publicly make their positions clear to others
(Assertive people- speak out, make strong statements, and have a take charge attitude)
(Less assertive people- keep opinions to themselves, rarely dominate a social situation)
Responsiveness- based on how emotional people tend to get in social situations
(Responsive people readily express joy, anger, and sorrow; more concerned with others and informal and casual in social situations)
(Less responsive people-cautious, intellectual, serious, formal, and businesslike)

14. Social Styles - Drivers
high on assertiveness and low on responsiveness
swift, efficient decision makers
base decisions on facts, take risks affecting
bottom line
competitive
Salespeople should be direct & businesslike
Example: Donald Trump – P. 134

15. Social Styles - Expressives
high on assertiveness and high on responsiveness
warm,approachable,intuitive,and competitive
direct time & effort toward achieving their vision
impatient
salespeople need to demonstrate how their
product will help the customer achieve personal
status & recognition
Example: President Obama – P. 134

16. Social Styles - Amiables
low on assertiveness and high on responsiveness
close relationships and cooperation are important
enjoy working with people and make decisions slowly
avoid conflict
Salesperson should stress product benefits
Example: Paul McCartney – P. 134

17. Social Styles - Analyticals
low on assertiveness & low responsiveness
like facts, principles, and logic
analyze the past; past is good indicator of future events
salespeople need solid, tangible evidence when making presentations
Example: Hillary Clinton P. 134

18. Categories Of Social Styles Exhibit 5.5 – Page 136

19. Identifying Customers’ Social Styles P. 136 & 137
Concentrate on the customer’s behavior and disregard how you feel about the behavior
Avoid assuming that specific jobs are associated with a social style
Attempt to get customers to reveal their styles rather than react to your style
Test your assessments

21. Versatility
Versatility- the effort people make to increase the productivity of a relationship by adjusting to the needs of the other party
You will be more effective if you are versatile
Successful salespeople are versatile

22. Found on P. 139

23. The Role Of Knowledge Adapt & Succeed

24. Systems For Developing Adaptive Selling Skills P. 140
Example:
Global assignments benefit from categorizing customers according to their culture
Concentrate training efforts on building relationships between the customer and the salesperson and spending less time on product knowledge
There are several other prominent sales training methods

25. Limitations Of Training Methods
The social style matrix and expert systems are limited
Salespeople must focus the style of sales presentations toward customer’s individual needs
Accurately fitting a customer into one particular category is very difficult

26. Questions?