Overview
Firms are under increasing pressure to increase revenue and simultaneously reduce costs. In this environment of reducing costs firms have outsourced some activities and have started relying on external vendors to provide solutions – provisioning of an integrated combination of goods and services that are designed to meet a business customer's specific needs. In the last two decades, solution design and implementation has been deeply embedded in business-to-business practices, due to their perceived beneficial returns for supplier firms and the perceived preference from buying firms. In an era of declining pricing power and increased global competition, customized solutions appear to be an effective way to build competitive advantages without the debilitating effects of price competition. It is believed that premium prices and higher margins can be extracted by solution providers, who have considerable incentives to design and market innovative and customized solutions for their customers.
Despite the increase in solution selling, solution selling has not been successful for most firms. There are three major reasons for the failure. First, some customer want to buy products and/or services and are not interested in solutions. Second, customers design their own perceived solutions that the selling from may not be able to provide. Third, and most frequently, selling firms bundle products and services rather than develop solutions.
We have developed a half-day training session to train senior executives on effective solution selling strategy. Experts working on solution selling introduce executives to solution selling strategy and how this strategy enhances the firm, customer relationships, customer processes and firm processes. Specifically, the following topics are addressed in the seminar:
- Solution selling strategy and the impact of successful solution selling implementation on the performance of the firm.
- The impact of the effective solution selling on the performance of the firm.
- Marketing solutions by targeting what customers actually want.
- Metrics to track solution selling.
- The role of solution selling in increased sales and profits through enhanced relationships.
Faculty
Arun Sharma is vice dean for executive education and a professor of marketing at Miami Herbert Business School. His expertise is in the area of Market Disruptions and his research is increasingly focused on digital disruptions. He has worked with firms such as American Express, AutoNation, Boston Scientific, Coca Cola, MoneyGram, Proctor and Gamble and Visa International in the area of digital disruptions.
