AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL (AUUP)

SUMMER INTERNSHIP REPORT

ON
APPLICATION OF CONSULTATIVE SELLING IN B2B
ENVIRONMENT
(Training Industry)

Under the guidance of:

Faculty Guide Industry Guide

Mrs. Soma Arora Mr. Shubhang Raturi

Submitted by:

Manyata Chopra

MBA (Marketing & Sales ‘ 09)

Enrollment No. – A0102207081

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to Amity Business School studies to provide me an opportunity to carry out the
combined efforts of number of individuals. I consider it my fortune and proud prerogative to
thank Mr. Shubhang Raturi, chief consultant Praxis-EL, for granting permission for
taking up this project.

I am also thankful to my faculty guide Mrs. Soma Arora, who guided me throughout this
project work and providing all the possible help in carrying out this project. Not but the least,
encouragement and help from friends and staff of computer centre and library has contributed
towards the timely completion of the project.

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work which is being done in this project report “APPLICATION
OF CONSULTATIVE SELLING IN B2B ENVIRONMENT” in partial fulfilment of
requirement for the degree of MBA (Marketing & Sales) from AMITY BUSINESS
SCHOOL, AMITY UNIVERSITY, Noida, Uttar Pradesh is an authentic record of my own
work and best knowledge under guidance of Mrs. Soma Arora.

The matter embodied in this project report has not been submitted by me for the award of any
degree or diploma to any other institute or university.

DATE______________ MANYATA CHOPRA

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. Manyata Chopra student of MBA (Marketing & Sales) Enrolment
Number- A0102207081, batch of 2007-09 has completed his Summer Internship and its
project under my guidance. The report is authentic and not used by the student for any other
university or institute.

Date ____________ Mrs. Soma Arora

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 ABSTRACT

According to Harvard Business School study, 25% of all salespeople cause 75% of all sales.
That leaves 75% of a sales force fighting over the remaining 25% of business. Assuming the
above statistics to be right, it is very important to be in that top 25% of sellers in the
company. What makes these top 25% of salespeople different from the 75% of the
salespeople? Clearly, there must be numerous factors that separate superior sellers from the
inferior sellers.

As we see from the customers' point of view the demand of salespeople have increased in
today’s marketplace. Finding the right prospects is only half the battle of an effective sales
force. The biggest challenge is to win the customers. To do so requires a focus on the needs
of customers - consulting with customers rather than strictly selling to them in order to help
solve their problems. Salespeople must effectively utilize their time with customers, shaping
conversations that directly address customer needs and expectations to take the selling
process to advancement and shorten the cycle time to close business opportunities.

This research report aims at differentiating ‘successful salespeople’ from the rest of the
inferior sales group in the business. The report explores the attributes of successful
salespeople in a Business to Business selling scenario

The concept of consultative selling has been proved successful and effective in the B2B
selling environment. This concept has come as a relief to B2B sales which had earlier been
following the traditional method of selling, that may work in small sales but often proved
lethal in case of large sales like B2B. Consultative selling emphasizes customer needs thus
meeting those needs with solutions combining products and/or services. A consultative
salesperson typically provides the best solution that meets these needs. When done well,
consultative selling takes place that range from creating oppurtunities to do business to
closing sales, as well as stages in between.

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Traditional selling focuses on single interaction or transaction. Salespeople don’t take into
account a buyer-seller relationship that exists prior to (and after) the sale. Traditional sales
techniques work for selling in the retail environment, where a customer comes and buys the
required product, but they don’t work in the world of B2B selling.

Relationship selling techniques within itself is not enough either. Relationship sales training
usually requires communications techniques. But while buyer-seller communication training
is great, it’s still only part of the equation. Most salespeople in the B2B world are terrific.
They’re easy to get along with. But being comfortable when communicating with someone
on the other side of the desk is not what influences a buyer to make a purchasing decision.
Instead, when it comes to B2B sales, it is the seller’s actions that make (or break) the sale.
What matters here is the salesperson’s behavior. Buyers evaluate seller behavior in order to
make predictions about the service levels provided after sale. Relationship selling is about
business relationships, not personal relationships. It’s something beyond the relationship in
business that influences purchasing decisions.

Consultative selling involves deeper questioning of the customer, about organizational and
operational issues that can extend beyond the product itself. This leads to greater
understanding of the customer's wider needs, (particularly those affected by the product), and
the questioning process itself also results in a greater trust, rapport, and empathy between
sales-person and buyer.

Thus, this research has been undertaken to study the application of Consultative Selling in
B2B environment. This has been achieved by studying Praxis-EL wherein the research
studies the sales team of Praxis-EL, which has been trained on Consultative Selling.

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 CHAPTER1

INTRODUCTION

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that
whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

-Vince Lombardi

“Sell the way prospect likes to buy”

Insanity, by definition, is to do the things again in the hope that those things will
miraculously achieve results differently. If that is the case, then dissatisfied sales managers
must make changes. Organizations that want to increase their sales need to approach sales
differently.

Organizations should fully focus on how to do things differently to achieve their desired
results. On the other hand, to put this way, if their desired effect is improving business results
through increased sales revenue, what will consistently, effectively, and reliably achieve this
goal?

Millions of rupees have been spent investigating and pursuing ways to grow sales, and no
wonder; after all, sales are the lifeblood of any organization. Yet only a handful of companies
have been able to grow their sales diligently not just in good times, but in lean times, too, and
in the face of ferocious competition. A careful study of the vast majority of companies that
have been less successful than these few superstars have shows that they fall prey to a
number of common mistakes. By contrast, the few that have been consistently increasing
their sales have succeeded because they have found ways to avoid these same traps. What
have been such companies doing differently is the question to be asked.

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Sales Transformation Survey by Accenture on December 2003 states that a critical need
today is to move a sales force away from its traditional selling to consultative selling
solutions. Such a strategy can lead to a greater level of engagement with business customers.
Yet 30% of executives say that their salespeople are not adequately focused on solution
selling and too focused on selling products.

Selling has been replaced by new selling technique, Consultative Selling. The formula
mostly used by salespeople is ineffective, as it has became predictable to businesses and
consumers.

Today the world of B2B gained so much of attention. The traditional methods, which are
applicable to B2C, do not work for the sales force in today’s scenario. The simple fact is that
Business-to-Business sales differ significantly from Business to Consumer sales. The
differences are many:

B2B B2C

 Relationship driven  Product driven

 Maximize relationship  Maximize transaction
 Focused target market is small  Target market is big
 Multi-step buying process, longer  Single step buying process, shorter sales
sales cycle cycle
 Brand identity created on personal  Brand identity created through repetition
relationship and imagery
 Educational and awareness building  Merchandising and point of purchase
activities activities
 Rational buying decision based on  Emotional buying decision based on
business value status, desire, or price

Therefore, today we need a consultative type of selling, introduced in the 1970’s, which
promotes a better understanding of the dynamics of how to sell. Although many organizations
appreciate the importance of being customer-focused and talk about their "Consultative sales

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process," surprisingly few sales leaders invest the time and energy required to develop a
formal sales process—a sales process that is at once detailed and resilient enough to guide
their salespeople and permit effective management of their efforts.

This Research report talks about business development executive of Praxis-EL.. Praxis-EL
has been following, and training its salespeople on the techniques of Consultative selling.
The report aims at finding out the reasons behind the consistently successful sales
performance of its business development executive.

In Praxis, when a consultative sales process was defined, sold to the sales force, and
supported by other departments within an organization, the stage was set for transformational
performance improvements. The company believes that just as one needs to put in a solid
foundation when building a house, the sales process is the key for future sales success. One
must remember when selling to companies, however, one must keep in mind that they are
selling to an indefinite number of people. Selling to a company involves many decision
makers, each of whom must be convinced of the advantages of the same product or solution.
Decision makers at different levels in an organization do not necessarily have the same needs
and requirements. Each of these individuals has its own agenda and reasons for buying. Each
one will always have two reasons for buying i.e. personal or emotional reasons. They will
also keep their company’s interest at heart, as this will help their personal benefit. One should
always keep these factors in mind when selling to the clients’ organization. These are the
reasons why Consultative Selling concept must be understood and applied rationally in a
large sale or B2B sale. Thus, report further discusses this in detail.

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 CHAPTER 2

PROBLEM DEFINITION

The basic principles of sales management had been clearly constituted by the beginning of
the last century. Needs of the buyer were well experienced by the managers, hence
developing suitable strategies to make a sale perfect. However now the selling environment
has considerably changed. In the current commercial context, everyone in business knows
that it is necessary to build a relationship with the customer. The selling organization must
behave like a consultant to the buying organization. .

Providing solutions, rather than selling goods and services is a distinctive characteristic of the
consultative sales person. This in turn builds value and creates customer loyalty and long-
term relationship. Sometimes in the overall interests of the relationship between the two
companies, the consultative seller may not even persuade the buying company from
purchasing a product made by his company. While loyalty to his own company is doubtless a
distinguished priority, the consultative seller will not allow such sentiments to harm the
welfare of his customer..

However, the salespeople in India are not aware of consultative selling concept in India and,
consequently, continue to follow the traditional methods of persuasive selling, even in the
large sales, which in the end do not entail any favorable results. It is because of this reason
that this research tries to find out what the salespeople trained on Consultative Selling do
differently that make them very successful sellers. The purpose of this research report is to
explore the techniques or steps followed by the consultative seller that lead to sales
success and check its validity through applying on Praxis-EL, a corporate learning
organization.

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 CHAPTER 3

FRAME OF REFERENCE

This section aims at distinguishing the concept of Business-to-Business Sales and the
Business to Consumer Sales. This section also differentiates major sales and low value sales.
The chapter also highlights some facts of Training industry in India. Clarity of some
elemental definitions will facilitate a better understanding of the purpose of the Research
Report.

BUSINESS To BUSINESS SELLING :

Business-to-business sales is differs from Consumer sales in deep and fundamental ways and
this most certainly affects the way B2B selling should be carried out. More often than not, it
is perceived that since marketing is about the profitable satisfaction of needs, the
fundamentals of getting the right product to the right person, at the right price is exactly the
same in both the cases. However, there are many remarkable differences in the way products
are sold in a B2B and B2C scenario.

What Makes Business-to-Business Marketing Different?  

 B2B Marketers Experience Longer Sales Cycles

The B2B purchase cycle is an extended process, often lasting
several months. Marketing to B2B prospects requires different
actions, depending on what stage of the buying cycle your prospect
is in. 

 B2B Products and Services are More Complex

B2B products and services are typically complex and sophisticated,
with many of the benefits or detriments not readily apparent. B2B

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 marketing needs to take the technical, the implied, the intricate, and
make it clear, understandable, and persuasive.
       
 B2B Selling Propositions are More Complex
B2B selling propositions are complex that must present value-based
differentiated solutions that support rational buying decisions of a
customer. Fluff may get attention, but it’s not going to influence the
purchasing decision. Complex differences must be delivered
through intelligent and compelling communication strategies.

 There are Fewer Identifiable Buyers

B2C marketers know they can put their product in front of millions
and that a sizeable percentage of that market is potential purchasers
of that product. There are fewer potential buyers of B2B product.

 B2B Pricing is Different

The pricing of B2C products doesn’t change very much from store
to store. Pricing of B2B products, are often different for every
buyer. Products in the B2B world are less standardized, and pricing
can be according to the buyer. The price is determined on the basis
of many factors and specifications, all of which take significant time
to calculate and add greatly to selling costs.

 B2B Marketing Speaks to a Different Set of Buying Emotions

B2B marketing is not “emotionless.” While B2B prospects are
generally not moved by common B2C motivators, like impulse or
status, different individual emotional motivators apply.

 Corporate Brands are Usually More Important

Corporate brands are usually more important to B2B buyers than
product brands. While there are many purchase criteria that drive
product selection, (i.e. product performance, capabilities, price), the
value B2B buyers place on the corporate brand drives and

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 completes the actual purchase decision. “Can I trust them? Will they
deliver what they promise? ”   

 B2B Prospects Conduct More Research

The risks and implications of making to make the appropriate
purchase decision are usually high for B2B customers. Therefore,
B2B prospects conduct more research, seek more information,
evaluate references, and research alternative products,
manufacturers, solutions, and providers. They do this not only for
personal benefit, but because they also need to “sell” the
recommended purchase to others. 
 
 B2B Marketers Have Less Research Data
If Proctor & Gamble doesn’t put a product on the shelf until they
have spent millions to know that the product will be successful. Few
B2B companies have that luxury. Sure, a lot of money may go into
product research and development, but little gets spent on market
research. This makes success a lot more dependent on the
experience and savvy of the B2B marketer.

 More People are Involved in the B2B Purchase-Decision Process

Most business purchases have multiple parties in the purchasing
organization influencing the decision-making process. Therefore,
you must identify and reach multiple parties in multiple tiers within
the prospect’s organization with messaging that resonates to each
individual’s interests and concerns—for example, the "economic
buyer" concerned with ROI, the "technology buyer" concerned with
performance, and the “end-user” concerned with ease of operation.

 B2B Requires Different Channel Strategies

For many B2B organizations, the “seller-to-end-user” relationship is
not exclusive or direct. Complex networks of key publics require
different channel strategies relevant and appropriate to each channel
member’s level of involvement. In addition to end-users, many B2B

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 companies must also market to distributors, dealers, independent
representatives, outside consultants, specifiers, and supply-chain
partners, to name just a few.

 B2B Sales Rely Heavily on Personal Interactions

Unlike sales to consumers, B2B marketing doesn’t happen through
tightly controlled highly crafted communications vehicles like
television commercials or other mass media. One-to-one customer
relationship building, through interacting, demands sophisticated
sales management and an educated, knowledgeable, trained staff
whose words and actions are aligned with corporate brand
objectives

 B2B Marketing Starts on the Inside

Most people working within a B2C company have little, if any,
actual contact with the customer. In B2B, countless people within
the company, not just marketing folks, have access to and interact
with the customer. All of those people need to understand the brand,
live the brand, and deliver the brand every day. Therefore, the B2B
marketer’s first job is to market the product internally and align
others in order to create brand ambassadors.

 Multiple People from the Seller’s Organization are Typically Involved

Sales of complex, technical, or sophisticated B2B products and
services often include the expertise and involvement of multiple
people from the selling organization. Sales and marketing may be
joined by representatives from executive management, design,
engineering, manufacturing, customer service—all of whom have
the ability to influence the sale. All of these people need to be
aligned with the brand to maximize selling success.

 Third Parties have Greater Influence in the Buying Process

B2B purchasers often look to third party influencers for opinions,
insight, consultation, or referrals. B2B sellers must market to and

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 through industry experts, trade organizations, trade shows, trade
publications, peer organizations, and other third party channels.
B2B purchasers use information from these sources to support and
help sell their purchase recommendations

Now lets us differentiate low value sales and major sales -

LOW VALUE SALES VS. MAJOR SALES – A CASE FOR

CONSULTATIVE SELLING :

 Traditional sales training is fine for low-value sale but they cease to work, as the
sales grow larger. It was this consistent failure of sales training to improve results in
major sales that led to the research and finally the development of the methods found
in this model – Consultative Selling.

Traditional sales call steps:

1. Opening the call

2. Investigating needs-open and closed questions - these classic methods may work in
small sales but they certainly won’t help you in bigger ones. Research
showed no measurable relationship between the use of open ended questions and
sales success

3. Giving benefits - offering benefits can be very successful in the small sale, but in
the large one it fails entirely.

4. Objection handling - objection handling skills are fine when you’re making the
small sale, but in major sales they contribute very little to your sales effectiveness.
Successful sellers concentrate on objection prevention, not on objection handling.

5. Closing techniques – most of the commonly taught closing techniques just don’t
work for major sales.

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 A small sale is a sale which can normally be completed in a single visit and which
involves a low rupee value.

 Major sales are different, mainly due to changes in customer perceptions and
behaviors.

Factors:

1. Length of selling cycle – simple, low value sales may be completed in one visit, but
a major sale may require many months. Multi- call sales have a completely different
psychology from single call sales. A key factor is that in a single call sale the buying
decision is usually made then and there with the seller present, but in a multi-call sale
the most important discussions and deliberations go on when the seller isn’t present,
during the interval between calls.

2. Size of customer’s commitment – as the size of the sale increases, successful

salespeople must build up the perceived value of their product or services. The
building of perceived value is probably the single most important selling skill in larger
sales.

3. The ongoing relationship – most large sales involve an ongoing relationship with
the customer. In a small sale it’s relatively easy to separate the seller from the
product. With the larger decision, seller and product become much harder to separate.
Because large decisions usually entail an ongoing involvement with the customer,
they demand a different selling style.

4. The risk of mistakes – in a small sale, customers can afford to take more risks
because the consequences of mistakes are relatively small. Customers become more
cautious as the decision size increases. Purchase price is one factor, but fear of making
a public mistake may be even more important.

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AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRAINING INDUSTRY IN INDIA :

India's growing employment market presents an opportunity for the budding training
industry in the country.

-The Hindu Business Line

If India's demographic advantage is an opportunity for organizations to ramp up their

workforce numbers quickly, the same resource is also presenting another window for the
growth of the budding training industry in the country. Though no exact estimates are
available, the country's training industry, imparting both technical and non-technical
knowledge, is now worth around Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 crore (source: NIS Sparta).

The Training industry in India is largely dominated by individuals and consultants who form
nearly 85% of the industry pie. The balance is divided between the big players (eg.NIS
Sparta, Bharti Comtel) and the business schools across the country. Mostly, these big players
engage in low-value but a mass training rollouts at a time. These players boast of impressive
budgetary layouts in form of overhead cost that contrasts with the small individual
consultants. However at the same time largely their credentials, certifications, and years of
experience as a trainer govern the earnings of the trainers. Also worth noting, is the fact that
many companies do a considerable in-house training through their line managers. But it's also
true that companies generally outsource about half of their training needs to various training
organizations and individual consultancies.

In a country where the knowledge economy is booming, training budgets are estimated to be
low and restricted to certain `progressive' companies. Traditionally, Indian companies spend
anywhere between 0.5 and 2 per cent of their turnover on training their employees. IT and
ITES companies, which are essentially people-oriented businesses, spend about 3-5 per cent
of their revenues on upgrading employee skills. The American Society for Training has
estimated the spend to be in the range of 2-2.5 per cent of company turnover on employee
skill development programmes, though progressive companies are known to spend up to five
per cent of their turnover on training.

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Globalization has increased the pressure on companies, with an increasing need felt to
effectively manage oneself properly, and also manage clients. Apart from IT and ITES,
sectors that are booming and therefore looking for training programmes for their employees
are retail, automobile, sales, service, financial services and banking, telecom and
manufacturing. The Government has also realized the need for training its employees in the
areas of soft skills like customer service and responsiveness.

In India, however, more importance has been given to technical training than behavioral or
soft skills training. Experts point out that in spite of the critical need for soft skills training,
most companies have not got down to making it a regular affair, with the acceptance ratio of
technical to soft skills standing at a dismal 70:30. The reason behind all this focus on
technical training is the return on income associated with it, as that leads to immediate
business and revenue generation.

Often, it has also been seen that majority of the soft skills trainers are not formally trained.
They usually are the “home- grown” variety of trainers who have a considerable amount of
experience as a Human Resources or Organizational Development managers.

Training industry in India is still at its nascent stage and this leaves a lot of room for
innovation, especially in the soft skills training arena. What is needed is a deeper
understanding of and greater adaptation to different customs and manners across the globe.
Issues like interpersonal behavior, communication, presentation, client handling and client
management, business development and negotiation skills, which were hitherto considered
not very important, have now become essential for companies. In a study conducted by the
Stanford Research Institute and Carnegie Melon Foundation, among Fortune 500 CEOs, it
was found that 75 percent of long-term job success depended on people skills, and only 25
percent on technical knowledge.

Besides, there are other drawbacks like individual reluctance, whereby most employees do
not like to undergo training in etiquette or communication skills. This is especially true in the
case of middle and top managers who already have a relatively good amount of experience in
doing things. In addition to this limitation, a most important roadblock for soft skills training
to spread its wings is the mentality that training is an “event” and not a “process”. Thus,
many fail to realize the long-term positive effect of such training.

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Some very strong modules on team building, collaboration, breaking the silo mentality, sales
training, negotiation skills, effective communication, leadership skills etc. can work wonders
for any company. Soft skills are also honed through some very hard-hitting formats of
simulation and outbound trainings. Outbound Training has been identified as being part of the
field of experiential education and uses an experiential approach to physical and mental
development of an individual. The term outdoor education has been used in a variety of
contexts to describe a range of experiences and during the last century there has been
tremendous growth in outdoor education due to its effectiveness. Experiential learning is
based on the belief that the process of personal growth occurs through change because of
direct experiences. It is an active process involving the learner being placed in unfamiliar
environments, outside their positions of comfort and into states of dissonance. This lack of
harmony requires problem solving, inquiry and reflection.

Sadly, though, outbound training is considered merely as fun with no serious learning. This
dilutes the very purpose of sending the teams out for trainings and, therefore, in the end the
entire blame is posed on the inefficiency of the soft skills trainings. This problem is further
exacerbated by a crunch of good trainers in the country.

SOFT SKILLS

Soft skills is a sociological term which refers to the cluster of personality traits, social
graces, ability with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark
people to varying degrees.

High demand Medium demand

a. Leadership a. Breaking the Silo Mentality
b. Customer Relationship Management b. Conflict Management
c. Selling Skills c. Professional Assertiveness
d. Effective Communication d. Telephone Etiquettes
e. Decision Making e. Managing cultural divides
f. Team Building

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This research report is based on the case study of Praxis-EL, a corporate learning
organization, which provides training solutions to the corporates. The above literature
connects well the research undertaken at Praxis-EL. The role of business development team
at the organization is to sell training to the various other organizations, hence, qualifying as
business to business sales of professional services.

With various organizations laying down huge budgets to train their large pool of human
resources, the sales of training programmes comes under the domain of major sales.
Complex decision-making, long deliberations and multiple sales call process characterize
the sales of training solutions to the clients. With this background, the emphasis on
Consultative selling has been made in this research report.

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 CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

To give the reader the possibility to invision this research and to make his or her own
perception concerning the quality of the results, the methodology used is described below.
This chapter begins with the research approach, the research perspective and the research
method. Then the method presents the case study and describes the data collection method
used as well as a discussion about the credibility in this study. The research design ends this
chapter.

RESEARCH APPROACH
Most of the research is done about the application of Consultative Selling in a B2B
environment. It has been a prevailing concept but not much has been practiced in India.
Consultative Selling is still at its very beginning stage in India and the Indian researchers and
management experts have contributed not much. However, off lately, researchers have started
to explore this domain more seriously. Largely most of the literature on Consultative Selling
has been written and published by the foreign authors. A research report on this topic has
been initiated, as the subject was interesting and still not well researched.

Praxis – EL, a corporate learning organization, was approached to gain an understanding of

how a business-to-business selling is carried out while dealing in intangible professional
services, in this case, the training programmes. Praxis-EL highlights the reasons behind the
successful performance of business development executive. Being a training organization,
Praxis-EL tends to follow– Consultative Selling – the most advanced method of selling.

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RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE
A scientific approach explains how a researcher connects theory and empirical findings in the
research process. A comparison was made between the existing selling theories with new
one. This material was used as a frame in deciding what information was collected, how the
information was analyzed and how the information was related to the already existing theory.
After analyzing the material, an attempt has been made to understand the consequences and
potential development areas of the theories. The intention is not to build a new theory but to
highlight the effectiveness of the published research in this domain and test it against its
practical application in Praxis-EL.

RESEARCH METHOD

In investigating the Consultative Sales concept, a descriptive method in form of personal

observation has been chosen. The observations were carried out in order to get a deep
comparative knowledge regarding the different practices and processes at the research
company. Subjectivity that may creep into the research has been kept in mind at all times and
efforts have been made to make the research as objective as the research methodology
permits.

OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH
A wide ranging set of research techniques aimed at observing consumers interacting
naturally with their surroundings including products and services in use. A key advantage of
observation research is that often the respondent or consumer is unaware that they are being
observed, allowing their behavior to be observed naturally.

A personal observation was carried out to gain a vision into the behavioral patterns of the
business executive while on a sales call with the client, before and after training. Consent was
gained from the Industry Mentor to carry out the research on such lines.

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DATA COLLECTION

Both Primary and Secondary sources of data have been used in this research report.

1. PRIMARY SOURCE:

In primary data collection, you collect the data yourself using methods such as interviews and
questionnaires. The key point here is that the data you collect is unique to you and your
research and, until you publish, no one else has access to it.

Participants and Sample Size

This research explores the interaction between the business development executive and 200
clients, 100 before training and 100 after training on Consultative Selling. The behavioral
patterns of business development executive from Praxis-EL, before and after training, was
observed and recorded. The clients comprised the Human Resources and the Training
managers of various organizations in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad. Praxis-EL
currently operates in Delhi and NCR region only.

Procedure and Techniques

The business development executive was observed during the sales meetings with the clients
through a viewing window for 20-30 minutes. A behavioral checklist was used to record each
instance of a listed behavior during the meeting.

2. SECONDARY SOURCE:

Secondary data is material that has been published before. Secondary data in forms of
published white papers, research reports and company website information has been used in
this report. Sources have been mentioned clearly in the References section of the report.

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DISCUSSION OF CREDIBILITY

This thesis has aimed at producing and providing results with high validity and reliability.
The results provided will be trustworthy in order for the researcher to give potential
recommendations.

VALIDITY
According to the definition, validity is “concerned with the idea that the research design fully
addresses the research questions and objectives you are trying to answer and achieve.” This
research has been concluded with a belief that the research perspective and design matched
the research objective and gave the possibility to create a valuable analysis. In creating this
match, the planning that was done in advance was crucial.

RELIABILITY

Reliability refers to the ability to measure accurately. It is concerned with the consistency,
accuracy and predictability of the research findings. (Patel and Davidsson, 1994)

The research was done under the guidance and with the approval of the Industry Guide. It
was carried out with the purpose of extracting some valuable information on the team
performance to understand the areas of improvement and to check the effectiveness of the
induction carried out on Consultative Selling. Since the study was carried out using the
disguised research technique, the behavior of the participants was natural and not canned.
Sincere efforts have been made to keep the researcher’s personal bias at bay. In order to
obtain reliability, behaviors have been observed several times.

[24]
 CHAPTER 5

COMPANY OVERVIEW

This chapter provides a presentation of the case study, Praxis-EL. The chapter attempts at
giving the readers a brief overview of the company’s business and services offered by it. This
has been considered important for the readers to get a thorough understanding of the
analysis following this chapter.

Since its conception, PRAXIS-EL has positioned itself in the domains of Activity Enabled
Learning and is one of only three organizations in the country that has the knowledge and the
technology to deliver such unique programmes. Its trainers have delivered training to
organizations like AMERICAN EXPRESS, IBM DAKSH, STANDARD CHARTERED
BANK, HSBC, MARUTI UDYOG, EICHER, HERO HONDA, SEAGRAM, CSC,
BIRLASOFT, SONY ETC.

Mission Statement
"We at PRAXIS-EL understand that realizing the potential of an organization's human
resource capital...constantly upgrading their skills and learning towards harvesting their latent
abilities to the fullest is easier said than done."

The single greatest challenge in an adult learning environment is to constantly arrive at

creative and new methods of delivering your message.

Be it lessons in:
•    Train the Trainer
•    Sales effectiveness
•    Breaking the silo mentality
•    Team building
•    Bonding
•    Leadership development
•    Time management

[25]
•    Managerial development
•    Effective communication
•    Negotiation skills
•    Effective customer service
•    Effective decision making
•    Psychometric profiling

Praxis-EL partner’s you in identifying the appropriate concern areas and addressing them
with the requisite inputs using our high energy activities and high impact learning modules in
indoor as well as outbound environments.

Activities at Praxis-EL
In the domain of experiential learning and outbound learning programmes, names like
rappelling, trust fall, seek and destroy, river traversing, cave rescue, confidence walk,
obstacle course, gunnery school, one world, river rafting, etc. are easily used and often
repeated with minor variations by most trainers.

Details of outbound activities conducted by Praxis-EL:

1. Seek &Destroy:

Trained in the craft of war and armed with camouflage, satellite

imagery, wireless equipment, navigational aids and 45 mm.
Praxis rocket launchers your team
of specialists will follow its
mission brief as a part of
“Operation Shatru Vinash” to take out the assets of an
opposing force braving live booby traps, enemy snipers,
wireless jamming and rough terrain. Victory will come only through
careful strategy, trusting every function of your team, effective leadership, appropriate
deployment of your assets and team work.

[26]
An exceptionally high energy and action packed intervention involving navigational aids,
guns, explosives, walkie-talkies, camouflage & concealment, (in a relatively safe and
controlled environment) aimed at delivering an understanding of the need to strategize,
leadership, conscious adaptability, realizing potential, back-up planning, effective
communication, resource utilization, bonding and teamwork.

2. One World:

"ONE WORLD": This is a business simulation that is a combination   mind game as well as
physical movement.

The scenario talks about the "ONE WORLD

FORUM" which in the future has replaced a defunct
United Nations.

The entire group is divided into small teams

representing the leadership of different nations which
are members of the "ONE WORLD" forum.

Each team starts off with an inheritance of certain resources and relationships. The objective
of each country is to arrive as a true "ONE WORLD" nation by the end of the activity while
keeping the interests of their own nation secured.

The simulation uses a complex matrix of resource allocations and relationships

delivered to each team in the form of accounted props and expendables for use
during the simulation.

This module has the potential to deliver learning in the domains of trust, teamwork,
pro-active collaboration & breaking the silo mentality and works equally well with group
sizes ranging between 20-200 participants where time might
be a constraint.

[27]
3. Gunnery School:

This is a Military Academy scenario which gives all participants an opportunity to be heroes
and can be adapted into half or full day interventions.

The intervention starts with creation of teams which have to create identities for themselves
which include team names, team flags, team anthems and a battle cry. Teams will also be
given berets to wear (take aways).

The Gunnery School format will focus on the various aspects of

a Military Academy which will include:

1. Physical Stretch aided with the usage of Walkie-talkies

2. Learning the intricacies of Field Artillery & Engineering
and applying them
The scenario will culminate in where both the teams will build
their Operational Command HQ, use linear maps and magnetic
compasses to locate the opposing force’s HQ, field assemble 45
mm. PRAXIS cannons and use them to shoot down the opposing force’s HQ from a range of
approx. 300 ft.

An exceptionally high energy and action packed intervention involving field artillery (45
mm. internal combustion Praxis cannons), explosives & booby traps, walkie-talkies,
camouflage & concealment (in a relatively safe and controlled environment) aimed at
delivering bonding and an understanding of the need for and effectiveness of team work.
Simultaneously the de-brief also talks about trust, roles & responsibilities, realizing
potential and the importance of putting learning into practice.

[28]
4. Armada:

A hard-hitting simulation, the “Armada” is a half-day indoor activity where the entire batch is
divided into teams of 4-6 members each. Each team is allocated some resources that will help
the team through a journey at sea that lasts 21
days (simulated into 02 minutes per day). Each
team has to complete the journey and successfully
reach back to the starting point.

Each team has a choice of multiple routes to reach

the destination and to return. Each route has its
unique set of challenges and the teams will need to strategize and plan on the usage of
resources based on the routes that they will follow.

Each team member is given a set of

responsibilities to enable the team performing
optimally.

The key to success will lie in how effectively

the teams collaborate, share knowledge and
resources, plan and strategize on the usage of
resources.

Part board game and all fun, “ARMADA” is a simulation using lots of props, costumes and
collaterals with a fair amount of physical movement generating very high levels of energy
while impacting serious learning in the area of collaboration, teamwork & breaking the
silo mentality.

Details of few classroom interventions conducted by Praxis-EL:

1. Leadership:

CONTENT OF THE WORKSHOP:

 MANAGER AND LEADERSHIP

 LEADING AND GUIDING CHANGE

 COMMON FEATURES OF LEADERS

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 Leading By Example

 Self Management
 Stress Management
 Time Management
 Task vs. Relationship Orientation
 3 Circles of Leadership

 LEADER EFFECTIVENESS AND ADAPTABILITY

 LEADERSHIP STYLE

 Your Leadership Style / profile

 ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Paradigms of Management and Leadership

 ‘SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP’ - Model

 WORKPLACE LEADERSHIP

 Building and Maintaining the Team

 CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS

 High Performance Teams

 Building and Maintaining the Team
 Components of Effective Teams

 DEVELOPING THE INDIVIDUAL

 Coaching
 Mentoring
 Counseling
 Motivation

[30]
  SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP WITH PEOPLE

 Manpower Planning
 Performance Standards
 Review & Monitor
 Training & Development
 Reward & Recognition
 Employee Welfare

 PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING

 The Six Step Problem Solving Process

 LEADERSHIP AT WORK

 Putting stress to work

 Signs of negative stress
 Common causes of stress
 Dealing with stress

FOCUS OF THE PROGRAM / DELIVERABLES:

 Establishing personal responsibility and accountability in the midst of change.

 Increased self - awareness
 Improving relationships for greater personal and professional success.
 Realizing untapped potential
 Pro-activity
 Creating an open environment
 Focus on escalation

[31]
MAIN TOPICS COVERED IN THE WORKSHOP -

(With key messages for the delegates):

 Effective Listening
Key Message To The Delegates

 Your ability to be a good listener is dependent on just one thing…your

attitude. You must want to be a good listener.
 You tell people what you think of them by the way you listen to them.
Competent listeners demonstrate a lot of positive behavioral mannerisms-
gesture’s, personality traits, posture, and movement of the eyes, head, and
mouth etc- all demonstrating a desire to listen.

 Developing Communication Skills

Key Message To The Delegates

‘Good communication is the key to harmony and motivation’

 Good communications inform, provide dialogue for ventilating, and make a

person feel important. As you make others feel important, they respond
positively to you. Releasing these feelings can be an exhilarating
accomplishment, career progress, personal victory, a great idea of the future
and an adventure in living.

 Attitude Awareness
Key Message To The Delegates

 Our success in life is directly linked to our self-esteem, which further impacts
our learning, goals and achievements.
 Studies have shown that successful people build on their strengths rather than
being overly concerned about their limitations (which they have like anyone
else). You should learn to create your self-motivation thoughts like ‘I am’, ‘I

[32]
 can’, ‘I will’, or ‘I am able to’. Personality is a reflection of your attitude. Turn
your limitations into strengths.
“Believe that you possess significant reserves of health, energy and endurance, and
your belief will create the fact”

 Dealing with emotions

Key Message To The Delegates

 The life of a tree is sometimes dependent on whether or not it can bend with
the wind in a storm. As human beings, it is important that we accept and
express emotions.

“ I can’t help the way I feel, but I can help the way I think and act”.

 Sharing and communicating our emotions can be one of the most acceptable
ways of relating to others and providing a healthy outlet for our emotions. You
are responsible for your own emotions. People and situations might trigger
them, but your emotions are your own, a creation of your own making.

 Understanding People
Key Message To The Delegates

The foundation for all good human relations is UNDERSTANDING

PEOPLE

 Your treatment and the way you relate to others depend on your attitudes and
feelings about others
Be patient and tolerant towards others

Don’t expect other people to be perfect

Place yourself in the other’s situation

Control your attitudes

[33]
 Attitudes of Personal Empowerment
Key Message To The Delegates

 Let us empower our lives with people to the degree that you give others what
they need and they will give you what you need.
 We only have to look into our own minds and hearts and have sensitivity for
others to determine the needs of the people who are important to us.
 Life is more pleasurable, successful experience if those reactions to you are
positive. You should learn to motivate others.

 Creative Problem Solving

Key Message To The Delegates

 Life is not always easy. We all have problems. We also have a tendency to put
off facing your problems, hoping they would take care of themselves. They
rarely do. Taking action, working our way through problems and getting them
behind us will keep our lives on track.
‘Problems are opportunities; it is this attitude that will help you discover the
solution faster’.

 Team Building Strategies

Key Message To The Delegates

 To be successful one needs to inculcate team values. Values build inner

character and outer personality. Mutual trust is the basic ingredient of all
honest and effective human relationships, which is also true for a customer
and a salesperson. While getting things done with others, you need to develop
mutual trust, have the ability to admit mistakes and be easy to work with.

 Motivational Power

[34]
 Key Message To The Delegates

 The ability to believe deeply about something is the core attitude for a
purposeful, stimulating life and achieving this ability is within your power.
Learn how to believe in whatever you do and be successful as possible in the
work you are doing today. Success then becomes a habit, a way of living and
being productive. If you are salesperson believe in your company, your
product, your job and you can motivate yourself.

 Reaching Potential
Key Message To The Delegates

 There is considerable evidence to indicate that your expectations for the future
tend to shape your future. Deep within your consciousness is the realization
that your life has a purpose, a destiny, a meaning to be discovered. To be
working for a great purpose, a purpose larger than you is one of the secrets of
making life significant.

2. Effective Communication:
OBJECTIVES:
 To sensitize the participants the importance of communication process in successful
selling.
 To share with the delegates the relevance of one-way and two way communication.
 To equip delegates with the skills required in listening and verbal communication.
 To sensitize delegates on their individual communication styles while influencing
decision maker.
 How to make business communication more effective.

BROAD FRAMEWORK OF THE PROGRAM

 Introduction & Expectation
 Basics of Business & Professional Communication
o Definition
o Communication Model

[35]
 o Communication Channels
o Types of Formal Communication in Organization

 Barriers to Effective Communication

 Levels of Communication
 Culture & Communication – A brief insight
o Appearance / Dress Sense
o Tolerance for Conflict
 Elements of Communication
o Verbal Communication
o Elements of Verbal Communication
a) Clarity & ambiguity
b) Use of inflammatory language
c) Male & Female language use (Genderlects)
o Communication Steps
a) Attending to your customers
b) Understanding customer & his needs
c) Offering solutions
d) Closing the process
e) Follow up
o Non-verbal communication
o Definition & importance
o Non-verbal elements of voice
a) How to sound positive
o Non-verbal communication characteristics
a) Different Behavior patterns speak different languages
o Body language
a) Positive / Negative Personal signals in business
o Listening Skills
a) Definition & importance
b) Bad Habits Die Hard
c) Approach to Listening – Why & What?
o Written Communication Skills

[36]
 a) Your Writing Style - Your Choice
o Know your audience – “Human Element in Writing”
o Techniques of Effective Written Communication

3. Stress Management:

 Understanding Stress
 Pre program stress self-evaluation
 What, Why, Types
 Commonly held perceptions/beliefs
 Health impact of prolonged stress

 Mind/Body approach to healing stress

 Guided practice sessions – suitable in work environment

 Physical techniques
 Mental techniques

 Participants discussion or role-plays

 Q&A

 FeedbacK

4. Negotiation:

 Identify & negotiate the best deal/outcome possible

 Understand the key skills, processes necessary for successful negotiations
 Recognize the different approaches to the negotiating processes & understand their
implications
 Identify, develop & employ the interpersonal skills & techniques crucial to negotiating
proactively
 Work on individual strengths & weaknesses to develop a personal style of negotiation

[37]
 Develop flexibility in negotiation styles to identify & practice individual/group behaviors that
are helpful in negotiation.
 Develop successful negotiation strategies that can be used acc. to needs & demands
 An Overview
 Preparation Stage
 Establishing the climate
 Proposing
 Skills for bargaining
 Closing the deal
 Negotiation strategies
 Negotiation tactics
 Team negotiations

5. Time Management:

 Objectives & Goals of Time management

 Evaluate current usage of Time-keeping a Time log, identifying your personal time wasters,
dealing with interruptions.
 Organizing your daily work-Daily/Weekly Planning, effective time management system.
 Managing meetings-Different meetings for different purpose, Structure & control
 Delegation-Leadership & Time management, How to delegate effectively, Developing your
staff
 Getting the best return on Time Investment

6. Selling:
 Communication Basics
 Enhancing persuasiveness while communicating
 Using tone to their advantage
 Aligning to the communication style of the customer
 Active listening
 Handling difficult /Irate customers (demonstrating empathy)

[38]
  Effective ending of the call

 Call handling
o Sequencing the call (structure) while following the script
o Control anxiety and effectively bridge the sales call
o Bring in the consultative sales approach

 Gathering Customer information

 Fact finding
 Gather critical customer information before pitching a plan

 Recommendation
 Explaining the benefit to the customer

 Overcoming Resistance
 Effective Objection handling
 Positive attitude towards objections raised by the customers
 Emphasis on pitching “Benefits”
 Understanding the specific objection
 Agent’s belief in self/company and the services offered
 Confidently stating rebuttals to objections raised by the customer

 Asking for the order

 Effective Closing of the call
 Positive attitude towards closing
 Recommend benefits and wait for the customer to say “ Yes”

PRAXIS-EL has left all that behind. PRAXIS-EL has learnt and put into practice the need for
constant innovation in the domain of experiential learning. PRAXIS-EL brings to its
customers the next generation of experiential learning programmes designed and created to
assist them arrive at their objectives in the most innovative and hard hitting formats.

[39]
 CHAPTER 6

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, empirical research on traditional methods of selling and Consultative

Selling, which is an improvement over the former, has been put to use to analyze the sales
process at Praxis-EL. The objective of the analysis is to understand the application of the
sales process that should be carried out to achieve improved sales conversion rate.

This report focuses on Consultative Selling Model that has been used as a device in
recognizing the critical indicators that distinguish a renown sales person from a common
sales person and emphasizes the most efficient technique of carrying out a sales call. The
research based on this model can be used as an evidence to prepare a case for Consultative
Selling Methodology.

At Praxis-EL the most intricated and improved technique is carried out which results in an
effective B2B sales. However, this commonly followed sales process has been compared by
the Consultative Selling Model.

Earlier in this report a comparison had been made between the low value sales and the major
sales. Since in the small sales the rupee value and the risk element associated with the
commodity purchased is low, the transaction period involved is lesser and not much
deliberation on the part of the buyer is involved.

Keeping aside the small sales and concentrating on the major sales, let us look at two
different situations.

[40]
SITUATION 1

A customer goes to a market and desires to buy an i-pod with a budget of Rs.10000. Now he
would qualify as a major sale prospect for the seller of an i-pod. The seller interrogates about
customer’s interest and then accordingly present the latest models explaining all the features
and the advantages. He even tries to up-sell and persuades the buyer to give out an extra Rs.
1000 and buy the latest model.

SITUATION 2

The same customer approaches the seller of an i-pod with the same budget. The seller
inquires about his requirements from an i-pod. This way the seller consults the buyer to help
him serve the buyer better.

Let us compare both the situations and see which sale will be more successful?

On comparing we see the seller in the second situation would convert his sale more
successfully and conveniently than the seller in the first situation. This is because of the
simple fact that the seller in the first scenario skipped the most important step in a successful
sales process, that is, investigation. This step has a great significance in a sales process and
forms the underlying basis of the Consultative Selling.

At Praxis-EL, a research was carried out to investigate the two sales processes, traditional
and modern, executed by business development executive at Praxis-EL.

Each step of a sales process was observed according to the Consultative Selling framework.
An effort has been made to distinguish the sales process followed at Praxis-EL before and
after training.

[41]
As mentioned earlier, the executive was observed during their sales meetings with the clients
through a viewing window for 20- 30 minutes. A behavioral checklist was used to record
each instance of a listed behavior during the stated period

Now let us take a deep understanding of the steps involved in the sales process.

STEPS IN A SALES PROCESS:

1. PRELIMINARIES -

This research examines Preliminaries more closely. Generally, the larger the prospect
organization, the more research should be done before any sales call at which the salesperson
will be expected to present his company's products or services. This is called pre-call
preparation. The sales person must ensure that he knows his company’s product/service
extremely well, especially features, advantages and benefits that will be relevant to the
prospect he will be meeting. The opening of a call begins with the introduction of the
salesperson and the company he is representing followed by the general benefit statement.

General Benefit Statement (GBS):

A General Benefit Statement is a statement that relates to customers buying motives and
briefly says what a seller could do for a potential customer. This should grab customer’s
attention and start to create interest in knowing more about seller’s offering. The General
Benefit Statement is very useful and can be used as an opening at various stages during the
sales process.

2. INVESTIGATING -

Investigating stage plays an important role in sales process. Success in larger sale depends,
more than anything else, on how the investigating stage of the call is handled. Almost every

[42]
call involves investigating-finding something out from the customer that will enable you to
sell more effectively and to investigate one should ask more questions. This may be done to
uncover needs or to gain a better understanding of the prospects business. The main purpose
of investigating is to confirm or discover the strongest or unique perceived organizational
benefit that would accrue to the prospect from the product/service - it may be one (usually) or
two (occasionally) or three (rarely) key things, which may be obvious to seller and buyer, or
not obvious to either, in which case questioning expertise is critical.

Questioning must also discover how best to develop the sale with the organization, that is, to
find out when and how they decide, people and procedures involved, competitor pressures,
etc.

Good empathetic questioning also builds relationships, trust and rapport. It must always be
taken into account that nobody wants to buy anything from a sales person who's only
interested in their own products or company and who does not has the time and skill to
interpret and properly meet the prospect’s personal needs. The list of questions or headings
prepared at the Pre-call stage must be used at this stage.

Usually it is suggested to use open questions to gather information from the prospects. The
idea is to get the customers to give greater information.

A most important component in this stage is to listen carefully and empathically, maintain
good eye-contact, understand, and show that you understand, especially understand what is
meant and felt, not just what is said, particularly when you probe motives and personal
aspects. Interpret and reflect back and confirm you have understood what is being explained,
and if relevant the feelings behind it.

Questioning is traditionally treated by conventional sales people and conventional sales

training as a process to gather information to assist the sales person's process, and this is how
it is typically positioned in the conventional or the traditional style. However, modern sales
methodology, like Consultative Selling, treats questioning in a radically different way as an
essential part of a facilitative process whose purpose is to help the buyer decide.

[43]
This report shares the view that the investigative stage is extremely important as far as
success of a particular sales call is concerned. It is particularly important in major sales. An
observation was made on the:

 Quality of questions asked

 types of questions asked – open-ended or close-ended
 Number of questions asked
 Subject matter of the questions
 Number of questions asked on a particular subject
 Sequencing of the questions

3. DEMONSTRATING CAPABILITIES -

In most of the sales calls the salesperson has to demonstrate that he has something
worthwhile to offer to the customer. Most of us, in the larger sales, are selling solutions to the
customer problems. In demonstrating capability stage the salesperson has to show that he has
the solution which makes a worthwhile contribution to solve the organization’s problem.

Demonstration of capabilities may take a form of sales presentation, or actually presenting

the product, or stating some benefits of the product/service. The sales presentation focuses on
a central proposition, which should be the unique perceived benefit that the prospect gains
from the product/service.

During the questioning phase the sales person will have refined the understanding (and
ideally gained agreement) as to what this solution will be, however, the presentation must
now focus on 'matching' the benefits of the product with the needs of the prospect so that the
prospect is entirely satisfied that the proposition. The sales person therefore needs an
excellent understanding of the many different organizational benefits that accrue to customers
from the product/service, and also why these benefits should accrue. These perceived benefits
will vary according to the type of customer organization (size, structure, market sector,
strategy, general economic health, culture, etc)

The sales presentation must demonstrate that the product/service meets the prospect's needs,
priorities, constraints and motives, or the prospect will not even consider buying or moving to

[44]
the next stage; this is why establishing the prospect's situation and priorities during the
questioning phase is so vital.

All sales presentations, whether impromptu or the result of significant preparation, must be
well structured, clear and concise, professionally delivered, and have lots of integrity. The
quality and integrity of the presentation is always regarded as a direct indication as to the
quality and integrity of the product/service.

Observations made at this stage were primarily focused on investigating for some key points
and behaviours that emanated during the sales calls. These were:

 At what point of the sales call did the salesperson proposed the solution
 What was the impact of the solution
 How was the solution showcased
 Number of objections raised by the customers (reasons for the obj)
 How were these objections dealt with
 Impact of objections on sales outcome

4. OBTAINING COMMITMENT -

This research shows that success in the Major sale depends, more than anything else, on how
the Investigating stage of the call is handled. This flies in the face of popular sales training,
which suggests that Obtaining Commitment, or Closing, was the stage of the sale where the
most crucial elements of success existed. No other area of selling is as popular as closing.
Closing is defined as a behavior used by the seller which implies or invites a commitment, so
that the buyer’s next statement accepts or denies commitment.

The consensus on selling seems to be:

 Closing techniques are strongly related to success.

 You should use many types of closes re: assumptive closes, alternative closes, test
closes, etc.

[45]
  You should close frequently during the sale.

Initial selling research revealed that closing appeared to be negatively related to sales
success. Closing is a method of putting pressure on the buyer – this pressure has a
psychological effect. If the buyer is being asked to make a small decision, then the effect of
the pressure is to make it easier for the buyer to say yes and avoid an argument.
Consequently, with a small decision, the effect of pressure is positive. This isn’t so with large
decisions – the bigger the decision the more negatively buyer’s generally react to pressure.
The effect of pressure is negatively related to the size of the decision. By forcing the buyer
into a decision, closing techniques speed the sales transaction. This is fine for low-value
products, but it is not for larger, higher-value sales where you normally want more time with
the buyer, not less. Closing techniques may increase the chances of making a sale with low-
priced products. With expensive products or services, they reduce the chances of making a
sale. Closing techniques, like all forms of pressure, become less effective as decision size
increases.

The research goes on to point out though, that if the overuse of closing is a problem in many
industrial and capital goods sales, then it’s total absence may be an equally severe problem in
some service industries……like dentistry or training? While most sales people fully accept
that the most crucial part of the sales call is developing needs, those in the professional
services area justifiably want their people to take a stronger role in obtaining commitment
from customers. Sales calls with no closing whatsoever are unlikely to be successful.

How to obtain commitment?

The research found four clear actions that successful people tend to use to help them obtain
commitment from their customers:

1. Giving attention to Investigating and Demonstrating capabilities: The most effective sales
people were the ones who did an outstanding job of building needs during the Investigating
stage.

2. Checking that key concerns are covered: Sellers who were most effective in obtaining
commitment from their customers would invariably take the initiative and ask the buyer

[46]
whether there were any further points or concerns that needed to be addressed, versus using a
closing technique to bring up any doubts or unanswered questions the buyer might have.

3. Summarizing the benefits: Successful sales people pull the threads together by
summarizing key points of the discussion before moving to the commitment. Summarize key
points, especially benefits.

4. Proposing a commitment: Successful sellers don’t “ask for the sale” – they “tell”.

These four stages, namely, Preliminaries, Investigating, Demonstrating Capability, and

Obtaining Commitment are present in almost all sales calls. However, importance of all these
stages would vary depending upon the type of call, its purpose, and where it comes in the
sales cycle. But most calls do include all four stages even if some of them are very brief.
Although this sales model is a very simple one, it was found very useful in breaking the sales
calls to a series of steps that were further investigated individually.

CHAPTER 7

RESEARCH FINDINGS

After doing the analysis of methodology adopted by the business development executive, of
Praxis-EL, of conducting the sales calls with the clients this study arrives at the research
findings. Each stage of sales call was observed and has resulted in findings that explains the
reason behind a sales call success. A better understanding of each stage of sales call has
been given explaining the success of B2B sales and the gaps that must be averted , at all
times, at each step of a sales call.

For research purposes, Praxis-EL’s executive has been thoroughly trained on the
modules of Consultative Selling. The research findings concentrate on arriving at the
success rate of the executive, in terms of sales conversion or escalation, and explain the
reasons behind such results.

PHASE 1 – PRELIMINARIES:

[47]
RESEARCH FINDINGS -

An induction program was conducted by Praxis-EL for 7 days. It was divided into two parts:

Situation 1

The training was given, to executives, on all the modules of soft skills for 4 days, except the
consultative selling, and then the executive was asked to make an opening call to clients. The
number of calls made by an executive was 100 with a window of 5 days.

Situation 2

Then later, 3 days training on consultative selling was given to the team. The number of calls
made by an executive was 100 with a window 5 days. The escalation rate was observed.

[48]
Stage 1 –

Now the opening call was made and a comparison was done between both the situations. In
situation 1, I opened up with the same statement (not a GBS) which resulted in lower
escalation rate and in situation 2 I used variety of opening statements (GBS) which resulted
in higher escalation rate.

The results were -

 In situation 1, out of 100 opening calls I got 6 appointments.

 In situation 2, out if 100 opening calls I got 41 appointments.

Stage 2 –

After getting, the appointments in both the situations there were few engrossing facts that
were discovered after the training on consultative selling (situation 2). They were:

 The customer knew which company I was representing.

 There was exchange of business cards.
 The purpose of meeting was imparted.

In situation 1 the only fact that was discovered was:

 The customer knew which company I was representing.

The following points were deduced:

 Pretentious behavior does not work

 To open a call there are several many best ways i.e. changing GBS according to the
different client.
 Successful salesmen use a flexible approach

[49]
Telling the customer about the product was a weak way to influence him. A greater
elaboration on the same will be made while explaining the findings in the Investigating
phase.

A successful sale call is determined by a good opening. It was observed that first five minutes
of a meeting had a great significance on success (situation 2). However it was seen that a bad
opening did affect the sales outcome (situation 1).

In both the situations executive managed to move on the Investigating stage without any
denial.

PHASE 2 - INVESTIGATING

RESEARCH FINDINGS -

This stage includes finding out facts, information and needs. This is the most important
aspect of selling skills. Investigating the customer needs enable the salesperson to make the
sales more efficaciously. And to investigate the salesperson must ask questions.

Investigating phase consists of two types of questions –

 Close ended questions are those which can be answered in a single word, often yes or
no.

Example:

“Do you make the training decisions in this organization?”

“Does your organization conduct Soft Skills Training?”

“Does your organization outsource training programmers?”

Close ended questions generally involves Direct probing.

 Open questions require a longer answer. They involve Non Directive probing.

[50]
Example:

“Can you give me a little understanding of your organization?”

“What are the challenges faced by your organization?”

Open ended questions are more powerful than the close ended ones because they get the
customer talking and results in some useful information.

The important part of Investigating phase lies here:

This highly proposed questioning and probing technique falls under SPIN.

S – Situation Questions

P – Problem Questions

I – Implication Questions

N – Need Pay-off Questions

SITUATION QUESTIONS

In this type of questions the salesperson collects facts, information and background data
about the customer’s existing situation. They help establish a context for uncovering
customer’s problems.

[51]
Given below are few typical Situation questions that I asked during the meetings:

Situation 1 Situation 2
 “Can you give me a little understanding  “Can you give me a little understanding
about your organization?” about your organization?”
 “Do you conduct Soft Skills Training in  “Do you conduct Soft Skills Training in
your organization?” your organization?”
 “How often do you conduct such kind of
training?”
 “For which level of employees do you
conduct training?”
 “How does your organizational structure
look like?”
 “Do you have in-house trainers or you
outsource them?”
 “Do you conduct both inbound and
outbound training?”
 “If convenient, can you tell me how
your training calendar looks like?”

The result –

 In situation 1, I asked too many unnecessary background questions

- Two meetings out of six moved to the next step of SPIN i.e. Problem
questions.
- Rest 4 meetings resulted with no sales.
 In situation 2, I asked less background questions and that too with a purpose behind it.
- All 41 meetings moved to the next step of SPIN i.e. Problem questions.

The following points were deduced:

 Effective influencers ask Situation Questions selectively.

 Salesperson should limit the number of situation questions (unlike situation 1) asked
and still obtain the information they need.
 Effective Salesperson phrased the Situation Questions in such a way that they help
the customer see him as a problem solver rather than a prosecutor.

Now the executive moved quickly to the next level of questions – Problem Questions

[52]
PROBLEM QUESTIONS

Problem Questions probe for problems, difficulties or dissatisfactions with existing situations.
Each invites the customer to state Implied needs which further develop into Explicit needs.

Now here we define:

 Implied Need - These needs are merely a statement of dissatisfaction.

Example: Prospect says “I am disappointed with the performance of middle level
employees in the organization”
 Explicit Need - These needs are the specific wants or desires specified by the
customer.
Example: Prospect says “I need to improve the productivity of my organization”

The purpose of Problem Questions is to:

 Reveal the customer’s Implied Needs

 Clarify the customer’s difficulties and dissatisfactions
 Gain shared understanding of the customer’s problems

After the identification of problems or dissatisfactions by using Problem Questions, it’s

important to continue revealing and clarifying until seller and the customer share a thorough
understanding of the problem or Implied Need. Some useful ways to ask follow-up Problem
Questions are ‘Where? When? Who? How often? What happens if / when? You can also
ask about dissatisfactions or difficulties by asking indirectly or by using linking phrases, as
shown below:

How often do you conduct training programs in your organization?

Problem Questions are more strongly linked to success than Situational Questions, especially
in the smaller sale. In the larger sale they are not strongly linked to success. Experienced
influencers ask more problem questions. However, in the larger sale, it is the Problem
Questions that will provide the “raw material” on which the rest of the sale will be built. In
coaching in major sales, the starting point is usually an analysis of how Problem Questions

[53]
are being asked. Since Problem Questions are designed to uncover Implied Needs and
Implied Needs don’t predict success in larger sales, then neither should Problem Questions.

As I moved towards the next set of questions i.e. Problem questions. Below are few typical
problem questions that I asked in meetings:

PROBLEM QUESTIONS

1. “According to your experience, do you perceive or visualize any kind of problem

when this merger happens?”
2. “Are you satisfied with the current Training Programmes in your orgainzation?”
3. “What kind of challenges do you visualize as your company grows exponentially?”
4. “What difficulties do you envisage when large scale recruitment happens?”
5. “Are you satisfied with the employee gestation period?”
6. “Does it worry you that there is a high attrition rate in the sector in which your
company operates?”
7. “What sort of dissatisfaction do you have with past training programmes carried out
in your organization?”
8. “Is there a risk of conflict between these two departments?”

The results –

 In situation 1, I kept on asking more of background questions and less of problem

questions and started offering solutions and moved straight away to the next phase
i.e. Demonstrating.
 In situation 2, I kept on asking more of problem questions and developed the weak
needs of customer into clear and strong explicit needs and move towards next set of
questions i.e. Implication questions.

The following points were deduced:

 Customer’s implied need was uncovered.

[54]
  The customer was more comfortable with this set of questions.
 Problem questions were more powerfully linked to sales success than Situation
questions

IMPLICATION QUESTIONS

Implication questions ask about the consequences or effects of a customer's problems. This is
the crucial line of questioning. Successful calls contain many of these "implication"
questions. The goal of using these questions is to persuade the customer to explicitly state a
need that seller can solve. Ideally, seller should ask these questions to get a customer to admit
a costly problem. The ultimate goal is to increase the customer's perception of the value of
solutions to be provided by seller. Implication questions are so important that it's often
helpful to break down the problems of a specific customer.

Implication questions are strongly linked to success in larger-ticket sales, and yet they're
more difficult to phrase than either Situation Questions or Problem Questions. But they are
essential to moving larger sales forward, because they help to make the customer (and the
seller) conscious of hitherto hidden complications or of potential difficulties that may arise if
steps are not taken to remedy the immediate problem. The virtue of this question is therefore
also the risk: They make the problem seem more acute to the buyer.

Scenario –

 Situation 1 part was over soon after the Problem questions.

 In situation 2, I started asking a set of Implication questions.

The following points were deduced:

 Asking lots of implication questions may make the customer feel negatively or
depressed or even irritated.

Thus, in order to avoid such stage executive from Praxis-EL moved to another set of
questions – Need payoff questions.

NEED PAYOFF QUESTIONS

[55]
Like Problem Questions, Need-Payoff Questions are linked to success in more complex sales.
They can be especially useful when a seller talks to top decision makers, and they increase
the likelihood that seller’s solution, if accepted, will provide the payoff that answers the need.
These questions focus the customer's attention on the solution rather than the problem, and
they encourage him or her (with seller’s assistance) to outline the benefits that your solution
will provide his or her company. Thus a good Need-Payoff Question both pre-empts
objections and enlists customer buy-in.

A typical example of Need pay-off questions that I asked in the meetings:

“How do you think a better leadership situation at your higher level management will benefit
the organization?”

The result –

 All 41 clients were ready to answer all type of need-pay off questions.

.On asking the next set of questions i.e.Need pay-off questions, the following points were
deduced:

 It was observed during the research that the successful salespeople developed the
customer Implied needs into Explicit needs by asking two types of questions.
- First they ask implication question to build up the problem so that the
customer perceives them to be more serious.
- Then they turn to a second type of question (need pay-off) to build up the
value or usefulness of the solution. It is the use of this second type of
question that built up the value of the solution that removes any negative
perceptions of the implications of the problems.
- Need pay-off questions were found to create positive effect on the
customers and, therefore, were closely linked not only to success of sales
but also creating a better relationship with the existing customer.

[56]
The following graph shows the number of appointments before and after training:

The following graph explains the investigating stage:

[57]
PHASE 3 – DEMONSTRATING CAPABILITIES

RESEARCH FINDINGS -

Features are facts, data or information about a product or service. They have a positive effect
on small sales and are neutral or unpersuasive in larger sales. Features are low power
statements that do little to help you sell. It’s better to use Benefits than Features.

Benefits, which show how Features can help a customer, are a much more powerful way to
describe your capabilities. However, benefits, as traditionally taught, are ineffective in larger
sales and are likely to create a negative response from the customer.

Benefits should be broken down further:

 ‘Advantages’ – show how products, services or their features can be used or can
help the customer. They have a positive effect on small sales and only a slightly
positive effect on larger sales.
 ‘Benefits’ – Show how products or services meet Explicit Needs expressed by the
customer. They have very positive effects on small and large sales. To make a
Benefit, you must have an Explicit Need. But in order to get the Explicit Need,
you normally must first develop it from an Implied Need by using Implication
Questions and Need-Payoff Questions. Using Benefits can’t be divorced from the
way a seller develop needs.

In major sales, the most effective type of Benefit shows how seller’s product or service
meets an Explicit Need expressed by the customer. To obtain commitment the most effective
way is to:

 Check that the seller has covered the customer’s key concerns.
 Summarize the Benefits.
 Propose an appropriate level of commitment.

The result –

 In situation 1, I was focused on the traditional definition of benefits and considered

them synonymous to advantages, which further resulted in objections or no sales.

[58]
  In situation 2, I was aware of such differences and thus broke benefits into two parts
i.e. benefits and advantages. Hence, in all 41 meetings the result was advancement

The following points were deduced:

 Features created a low impact on the seller throughout the selling cycle
 A positive relationship between the benefits stated and the successful outcome of the
sales call.
 Advantages had an unusual behavior. It was observed that initially in a sales call the
advantages had a good statistical relationship with a success of sales outcome and
had a good impact on the buyer during the first call.
 Unsuccessful salespeople met with more objections from the customer than the
successful ones.

Objections occurred because of the heavy use of advantages used by the seller to convince
the customer into buying the service or solutions. More than half of the objections occurred
on this account. The research showed a relationship between the number of objections and
sales outcome. The higher the objections in the sales call, less likely the sales was likely to
succeed.

It was seen that the objections were a result of poor selling and poor probing. Objections are
symptoms of the mistakes one makes by offering solution too early in a call. Therefore extra
effort must be made to develop need of the customer through better investigation of problem
implications and the payoffs the solution might provide. This way the successful salespeople
built value of their solutions and were less likely to face objections. Therefore, good
questioning skills will lead to a better sales outcome than any of the objection handling skills.

There are seven 'Weak Links' - along the selling chain where it's easy to make a mistake that
will reduce the number of Benefits which seller could make to the customer.

1. Failure to establish the buyer's situation

2. Too much concern with the buyer's situation
3. Failure to ask about problems

[59]
 4. Failure to obtain Implied Needs: There are four main reasons why seller might fail to
obtain Implied Needs from the buyer. These are:
 No need
 Wrong questions
 Denial
 Restricted approach
5. Failure to develop implications
6. Failure to explore areas of payoff

7. Failure to make Benefits: If the buyer has stated Explicit Needs and you have
failed to
turn these into Benefits, it could be for one of three reasons:

 Seller doesn't recognize need

 Seller lacks applications knowledge
 Seller makes unclear benefits

IMPACT OF FAB OVER THE SALES CYCLE:

The figure on the next page shows the impact of FAB over sales cycle

P
EHI
RG BENEFITS
H
S
U
A
S ADVANTAGES
I
O
N

P
L
OO
WW FEATURES
E
R CONTACT CONTRACT

[60]
PHASE 4 – OBTAINING COMMITMENT

RESEARCH FINDINGS -

It is often suggested by most of the sales experts that obtaining commitment will be where
most crucial elements of the sale would be found. For the research purpose, obtaining
commitment has been defined as a behavior used by the seller which invites a commitment so
that the buyer’s next statement accepts or denies the statement. In other words, a close is any
statement that elicits some kind of commitment from the buyer.

The conventional method of selling postulates that closing or obtaining commitment is

directly related to sales success. Thus, it encourages the seller to close as many times in a call
and use as many closing techniques as possible.

The diagram below shows the steps involved in making an effective close:

[61]
When this phase was approached by me, an observation was made to check the sales outcome
of the call.

The result was –

 Out of 41 clients
- 29 clients asked to send the proposals for the key deliverables told
- 10 clients said that they will revert back after having a talk with the decision
maker of the organization.
- 2 client accepted the solution.

The probable reason behind this was given in the literature on Consultative Selling.

 The first reason was that the closing put pressure on the buyers and had a
psychological effect on them. Since the size of the decision is very large and complex,
putting pressure on the buyer affected the sales outcome negatively.

 Secondly, since the rupee value of the transactions were very large, and the fact that
training services sold were high in value, asking customer to make a quick decision
proved to be a failure.

 Thirdly, large decisions were made by more sophisticated clients such as the HR
Heads and senior executives. These are the experienced lot and cannot be coerced into
buying.

Thus it was observed that when the sellers used pressure on the buyers to purchase the
services, the dissatisfaction grew on the part of the buyer. This was because the
buyer’s psychology worked to tell him that it was because of the persuasion of the
seller that he bought the service, and not because he wanted to.

However, this doesn’t mean that the sales people should never close the sale. It is only being
said that it should not be the old style persuasive 'closing' - this should be modern
collaborative cooperative agreement - using ‘consultative’ help where appropriate, complex
systems need help in arriving at good decisions. This is possible when the salesperson has
effectively developed the customer’s need and the customer explicitly states that he requires a

[62]
solution. This technique helps the seller can obtain commitment from the buyer. This
technique has an important implication as well. Since the buyer feels that he has made a
decision, he raises no objections. This also gives rise to strong and long lasting personal
relationship between the seller and the buyer.

The graph below shows the result obtained:

[63]
 CHAPTER 8

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

1. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS IN THE OPENING PHASE

When opening a call, successful salesperson tried to attain three main things:

 know who the salesperson is

 Know why he was there
 Answered the questions comfortably

Successful sales persons consider note-taking as very important aspect to the call and
therefore consider it a good idea to gain customer’s consent to take notes.

The General Benefit Statement used by successful salespeople was well in place that helped
to get the appointment.

In general, the successful salespeople are found to get through the Preliminary stage faster to
proceed to the Investigation phase of the call.

There is no single ideal way to open a call. Successful salespeople are flexible and adapt
themselves to the pace and style of the customer. They do not make the mistake of getting
into the detailed description of the product or service.

2. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS IN THE INVESTIGATING PHASE

 The quality and relevance of the questioning is more important than whether the
salesperson chooses an open or a close ended question.

 Situation questions are used to check background facts to warm up the call/meeting,
and to give the seller a foundation of their Problem questions. Successful sellers make

[64]
 sure that every single question asked has a clear purpose and leads towards potential
problem areas.

 Problem questions are more powerful than Situation Questions, because they relate to
issues of interest to the customer rather than to the seller. Successful salespersons are
observed to ask more problem questions than the Situation Questions. They plan
them and ask them very carefully in each call.

 Just because a customer states a problem, it doesn’t automatically follow that he or

she wants a solution.

 Strong needs, stated in form of want or desires by the customer, are called Explicit
Needs.

 Customer needs do not usually start as Explicit, they normally begin in form of
problems or dissatisfactions which are known as Implied needs.

 Customers Implied needs were uncovered and the salesperson developed them into
strong and clear Explicit needs.

 It was observed during the research that the successful salespeople developed the
customer Implied needs into Explicit needs by asking two types of questions. First
they ask implication question to build up the problem so that the customer perceives
them to be more serious and then they turn to a second type of question to build up the
value or usefulness of the solution, known as the Need payoff question.

 By asking an Implication question the seller took a customer problem and explored its
effects or consequences. Implication Questions built up the size of implied needs and
increased the size of the problem in the customers’ mind. Through them the seller was
able to relate the problems faced by the buyer with the implications and underlying
consequences of such problems and, thus, impress the decision maker.

[65]
  Need payoff questions focus the attention of the customer on the solutions rather than
on the problems.

3. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS IN THE DEMONSTRATING

CAPABILITIES PHASE

 Capabilities can be mentioned through stating feature, advantages and benefits of the
service.

 Features created a low impact on the seller throughout the selling cycle

 Benefits on the other hand had a high impact whenever they were used

 Advantages had an unusual behavior. It was observed that initially in a sales call the
advantages had a good statistical relationship with a success of sales outcome and had
a good impact on the buyer during the first call.

 Successful salesperson did not demonstrate their solutions too early in the call. They
first developed needs to the stage of explicit needs by using implication questions and
need payoff question before they offered solutions. Presenting capabilities too soon in
the call is one of the most common mistakes by the inexperienced salesperson.

 Objections are symptoms of the mistakes one makes by offering solution too early in
a call. Therefore extra effort must be made to develop need of the customer through
better investigation of problem implications and the payoffs the solution might
provide.

4. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS IN THE OBTAINING

COMIMITMENT PHASE

 It was found that the larger the decision the more ineffective the closing techniques
were. When the sellers used pressure on the buyers to purchase the services, the
dissatisfaction grew on the part of the buyer.

[66]
 Closing put pressure on the buyers and had a psychological effect on the buyer. Since
the size of the decision was very large and complex, putting pressure on the buyer
affected the sales outcome negatively.

 Modern collaborative cooperative agreement - using ‘consultative’ help should be

used to close sales where appropriate, complex systems need help in arriving at good
decisions. This is possible when the salesperson has effectively developed the
customer’s need and the customer explicitly states that he requires a solution.

[67]
 CHAPTER 9

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter provides with the conclusions based on research results and analysis.
Furthermore, this chapter provides recommendations for potential development in the field
of B2B selling as well as further research in the subject area.

Based on the research undertaken at Praxis-EL, the research concludes that the Consultative
Selling technique is much advanced and superior method of selling than the traditional selling
techniques. This is particularly true in B2B sales in any industry. Developed by various sales
gurus through the 1980's, Consultative selling is widely practiced today.

Consultative selling involves deeper questioning of the customer, about organizational and
operational issues that can extend beyond the product itself. This leads to greater
understanding of the customer’s wider needs, (particularly those affected by the service), and
the questioning process itself results in a greater trust, rapport, and empathy between
salesperson and buyer.

The 'needs-generating' selling approach is a perfect example of Consultative Selling. The

process has been practiced instinctively in by many organizations for many years by good
salespeople, particularly since the 1970's, especially for concept selling or service solutions
selling, driven by competitive pressures, as consumer started learning much about the sales
process and techniques as the sales people themselves.

Praxis-EL understood the importance and appropriateness of Consultative Selling in B2B

selling, consequently, training its business development executive on the same. The results
speak for themselves. On interacting with 6 customers before training and 41 customers after
training the Praxis-EL’s executive managed to get an advancement 95% of the time as
contrast to the untrained business development executive which managed to secure an
advancement less than 40% of the time. The comparison itself brings out the importance and

[68]
applicability of Consultative Selling in B2B sales, in this case, sales of training solutions to
the corporate.

In 'needs-generating' selling, the sales-person seeks to identify and then 'magnify' a

particular need or problem which a potential customer experiences. Obviously the sales-
person must assure that the selling organization is able to offer a suitably matched solution
(product and/or service proposition) once the 'need', with all of its positive and negative
consequences, are firmly established in the buyer's mind.

Sales-person's ability, experience and expertise, to 'consult' with the buyer in developing a
solution, involve the supplier organization provision of service. This can be inculcated in the
sales team through training on Consultative Selling, as in the case of Praxis-EL.

This process is can be employed by professional consultants in all sorts of 'professional' and
'technical' disciplines. Change in philosophy and 'mind-set' of the salesperson must be
accompanied by the integration of ‘Consultative’ methods within the traditional selling
process.

Modern selling should not be accompanied by persuasion and influence. Modern selling
should focus on consulting the other person (buyer) to identify their decision-making criteria,
and to arrange the pertinent elements within their organization, so as to assess options,
actions, outcomes, so as then to make decision and implement accordingly.

A research should have been made about the prospective customer’s organization, prospect
profile, and competitor threats, opportunities, past meetings, etc. This should be followed by
establishing rapport and seller's professional references with the client typically by
referencing their experiences for successful solutions provided in similar markets and
applications that are similar to those of the prospective client.

The seller should ask 'strategic' open questions to identify, explore and develop areas of
potential problems, difficulties, aims and challenges within the prospect’s organization.
Normally identify and agree on a single primary issue, major concern for the buyer, and a
relevant area of product and/or service opportunity for the seller. This could be a 'distress' or
emergency pressure, priority, or threat, for example an issue which the prospect is involved in
'fire-fighting' to resolve currently, such as conflict between the leaders; or a strategic

[69]
development opportunity for market or business development, to which significant potential
profit, cost-savings and/or competitive advantage are attached.

It is extremely important to identify the area of opportunity or threat. The sales person is
effectively doing three things here:

a) Increasing the size and cost of the issue increases the issue's priority and importance, and
thus increases the buyer's feeling that action must be taken.

b) Increasing the size and complexity of the issue increases the need for consultative advice -
the buyer increases his/her perception that exper opinion from outside (from the seller) is
required.

b) Increasing the costs associated with the issue naturally increases the buyer's tolerance and
expectations for the cost of the supplier's proposed product/service solution - the higher the
cost of the challenge, then the higher the cost of the solution.

The final point referring to a buying organization's decision-making team provides a clue as
to the weaknesses of these traditional supplier-orientated selling methods. Decision-making
within the large organizations, is a highly complex process.

It is in light of above mentioned points that this research recommends a consultative selling
approach to be followed by all Major sales. Training the sales executive on Consultative
Selling is a profitable return on the investment. Currently most of the organizations are
spending a huge sum of money on sales training which still focuses on the traditional
methods of selling. This is witnessed because of the fact that the popularity of Consultative
selling has been very restricted which in turn is probably because of the ignorance on the part
of the organizations or because it is still in a very nascent stage in India.

Consultative selling model is more suitable for B2B sales than consumer markets because of
the higher values and greater complexities involved with B2B selling. However, some aspect
of these ideas and methods are certainly applicable to 'consumer' selling (B2C) and will be
more so where order values are significant, and where buying decisions are more complex
and time taking, for example in selling large financial products.

[70]
It was discussed earlier in this report that, according to American Society, the amount spent
for Training (in India) varies from 2-2.5 per cent of company turnover on employee skill
development programmes, though progressive companies are known to spend up to five per
cent of their turnover on training. Thus, to attain happy results the organization should
conduct training programmes often. This is because in many organizations training has
been treated as an event and not as a process.

[71]
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. John R. DeVincentis and Neil Rackham, "Breadth of a salesman," The McKinsey

Quarterly, 1998 Number 4, pp. 32–43.

2. Juliet E. Johansson, Chandru Krishnamurthy, and Henry E. Schlissberg, "Solving the

solutions problem," The McKinsey Quarterly, 2003 Number 3, pp. 116–25.

3. Nikki Owen, “The Five Most Dangerous Issues Facing Sales Directors Today, and How to
Guarantee a Permanent Improvement in Sales Results” Trainique ltd and Thinktraining inc.

4. Richard Grehalva, “Unleashing the Power of Consultative Selling”, P2P People to People
2004

5. Neil Rackham, “Spin Selling”, McGraw Hill, 2004

6. Dale Carnegie, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, Pocket Books (Revised
Edition- 2000)

7. Sharon Drew Morgen, “Selling with Integrity”, McGraw Hill (1997)

8. Neil Rackham, Spin Selling Audio

[72]