The document summarizes the results of a 2012 sales excellence survey that interviewed 1,150 people across 23 countries and 15 industries. It finds there are four types of sales situations - assertive selling, consultative selling, expert selling, and relational selling - depending on customer expectations and attitudes. Top performing sales organizations face fewer challenging assertive and consultative situations that require overcoming resistance. They have stronger competencies in assertiveness, structure, and expertise compared to bottom performers. The document analyzes differences in required sales skills and competencies between top and bottom companies.

1. Sales Excellence Survey 2012
Global Results and commentary

2. Sales Excellence Study 2012
The Survey
1.150 phone interviews
72 Statements concerning sales practises
23 countries
15 different industries
July/August 2012
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3. Sales Excellence Study 2012
Differentiated selling
Selling is not always the same. Salespeople are confronted with different situations. Sales situations
vary because of the different expectations
customers have on salespeople and due to the
quality of the relation-ship between customer and
sales person. The parameters can be described as
follows:
Customer expectations on salespeople: There are
situations in which a customer does not expect any
information or consultation from a salesperson. The
customer regards them as primarily occupying a
"doing" function. This is typically the case when a
customer purchases the same products on a regular
basis. They know each other and the mutual
interactions are familiar and practiced. The
customer expects a certain degree of customer
orientation, looks for friendly service and perhaps
enjoys the interpersonal contact. However they
do not expect any information on service benefits,
services, added values, etc. This is similar to
situations in which customers believe that they do
not need consultation. Naturally they will not seek
or expect any consultation from a salesperson. This
is generally the case when a customer is very
satisfied with its current suppliers and believes that
it has good level of market awareness. The situation
is different when a customer does not routinely
purchase from the supplier and lacks expertise of
its own ,or has low market awareness. Customers
then expect information, at the very least, from
salespeople and in many cases expect consultation
(or even that decisions be made on their behalf). In
the survey we expressed the polarity of this
parameter with the statements:
We are facing prospects and
customers who know what their
needs are and which kind of
solution they need...
Aitude of the buyer towards the offer: A customer
may have a very negative aitude and completely
reject the supplier and their product or service
("against") or at least have a highly sceptical aitude
("resistant"). This frequently happens in the case of
new customer contacts when the customer believes
they have no need of the products or services or
when the customer and salesperson do not know
each other. The situation is different when the
customer and supplier know each other or a
We are facing prospects and
customers who do not know
precisely what their needs are
and which kind of solution they
need...
customer has not yet found a satisfactory solution.
The customer has a neutral or generally positive
aitude towards the suppler ("receptive"). In the
best case the customer and salesperson know each
other well. The customer is satisfied with the quality
of the solution and the relationship is characterised
by loyalty. In the survey we expressed the polarity
of this parameter with the statements:
We have mainly to overcome
resistance from prospects and
customers in our selling processes...
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We are mainly facing prospects
and customers who are open and
receptive to us
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4. Sales Excellence Study 2012
Differentiated selling
When these two parameters (customer expectation and aitude towards the seller) are combined
in a matrix one can identify four distinct sales situations which require different selling styles:
We have mainly to overcome
resistance from prospects
and customers in our
selling processes...
AGAINST
Assertive
Selling
We are facing prospects
and customers who
know what their needs
are and which kind of
solution they need...
DO IT
RESISTANT
INFORMATION
Consultative
Selling
ADVICE
DECISION
RECEPTIVE
Relational
Selling
IN FAVOUR
We are facing prospects
and customers who
do not know precisely
what their needs are
and which kind of
solution...
Expert
Selling
We are mainly facing
prospects and customers
who are open and
accept us
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5. Sales Excellence Study 2012
Differentiated selling
The selling styles required for the different sales
situations can be described as follows:
Assertive selling: Salespeople encounter
customers who know exactly what they want and
are dismissive towards the salesperson ("I know
what I want and I don't want to work with you"). In
this case the sales-person faces two hurdles. The
customer does not want any contact with him and
does not need anything-or is satisfied with their
current supplier/s. The task then is to establish contact and to aempt to create or establish a new/
additional need. Naturally, aerwards the salesperson has to show that his offer satisfies this need
beer than the other suppliers' offers. This is a
typical selling situation in proactive
market development that demands a high degree of
personal magnetism and charisma from the salesperson. Due to the changes in buying behaviour this
is a situation that more and more selling companies
are facing.
Consultative selling: In this situation customers
seek advice from a supplier. They face a new
challenge and do not yet know how they can overcome it. However, they have a negative or sceptical
aitude towards the supplier ("I don't know what
I want but I don't want to work with you"). These
customers are oen generally satisfied with their
existing suppliers. Traditional discussion structures
(demand analyses) are therefore normally
ineffective here as reaching the same perceived
level as other preferred suppliers is too difficult.
The company's only chance is that salesperson
positions the company not as a supplier, but rather
as a consultant and makes a truly creative and
differentiated offer. Of course this offer must make
a stronger contribution to the customer's success
than existing competitor offers do This demands
specially skilled sales people. In addition to product
knowledge they must also possess sector
knowledge and commercial awareness.
They must know the typical challenges in the market,
the competitor's positioning/strategies and the
implementation hurdles. The company will only win
business by presenting an offer that is significantly
different to that of the established suppliers. The new
offer will need to enable the customer to overcome
challenges beer and do it in a way that will provide
credible added value - and greater success. This is
another selling situation that growth oriented
companies are facing more frequently.
Expert selling: As in Consultative selling, in Expert
selling customers face a new challenge for which they
are still seeking a solution. But in this situation they
are generally positive towards the offer ("I don't know
what I need but I want to work with you"). The priority
now is to understand the customer correctly and to
produce the right solution. As opposed to
Consultative selling, it is not necessary to work on
establishing competence or to differentiate the
company from competitors. In the eyes of the
customer, the company already possesses an image
of "the expert” that can be built on. The traditional
route can be taken using a demand analysis.
Relational selling: In this case the business
relationship is already established and the customer
places orders on a regular basis which do not have to
be renegotiated each time or require input from the
sales-person ("I know what I want and I want it from
you"). Sales activity then focuses on the customer
relationship and less on the product, services or a
specific solution. This demands interpersonal and
social competences from the salespersons, who must
take ownership of the customer relationship .
In this study we have investigated how oen these
selling situations occur with individual companies.
One can clearly see that there are differences between the companies surveyed.
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6. Sales Excellence Study 2012
Differentiated selling
If we apply these percentages to the differentiated
selling matrix it becomes apparent that Top 10%
and Boom 10% are facing different aitudes
among their customers. The Top 10% have to do
less of Assertive
and Consultative Selling than the Boom
10%. This is not by coincidence as we will see on the
following page.
Top 10%
30%
21%
Assertive
Selling
9%
Consultative
Selling
70%
30%
49%
Relational
Selling
21%
Expert
Selling
70%
Boom 10%
40%
28%
Assertive
Selling
12%
Consultative
Selling
70%
30%
42%
Relational
Selling
18%
Expert
Selling
60%
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7. Sales Excellence Study 2012
Main competence strengths of salespeople
Relational Selling competencies (being service
minded, building rapport) are well developed within
sales at all levels. But when it comes to
competencies more related to the new demanding
situations, the Top 10% are much more skilled than
the Boom 10%. They have the right competencies
in the crucial assertive and consultative selling.
The biggest differentiators are in the “new” skills
strongly linked to the two major challenges of the new
buying landscape : facing buying autonomy and facing
resistance. Among Boom performers, there is a
competence gap, from the “classic “ sales skills to the
“new skills landscape” . Yet this is where many
companies still make their training investments.
84%
... are service minded,
give the customer what he expects
79%
77%
83%
... building rapport and relationship,
have social competence,
are emphatic
75%
68%
85%
... are experts for the customer’s
business their processes
and markets
76%
67%
78%
... working in a very structured way
(activity planning, seing priorities
for customers and products)
67%
54%
85%
... are assertive, convincing, having
charisma, being resistant to failure
69%
61%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Illustration 1: To what extent do you agree the following statements (top 2 boxes out of seven),
n=1.150 Statements with differences > 20% between top 10% and Boom 10% are marked in red
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