Sales approaches mostly come from the USA and have a long tradition. Because in the USA, marketing and sales are on at least an equal footing with product development. In Europe, the product or offering has always been — and was always — in the foreground. How something is sold was rather secondary, or the task of people who talk a lot and don’t take the truth too seriously. But selling is a craft, and the sales approach is the core of every sales system. In Europe, IT companies in particular use systematic sales approaches in selling. In many industries, the methodical approach is unknown and is not used.
Yet sales has changed greatly over the last 50 years — from a product-centred approach towards a customer-centric, advisory-based and increasingly digital sales process.
1970s – Product-oriented selling
In the 1970s, the classic hard-selling approach dominated. Salespeople acted as active persuaders, and the focus was on the product and its features. In-person sales conversations, cold calling and aggressive sales tactics shaped the picture. The customer played a rather passive role in the sales process.
1980s – Solution-oriented selling
In the 1980s, solution-oriented selling increasingly took hold. Salespeople began to engage more strongly with the customer’s needs and problems. Sales shifted from a pure product presentation towards an advisory approach in which the product was positioned as a solution to specific customer problems.
1990s – Relationship-oriented selling
The 1990s brought a shift towards relationship selling. Long-term customer relationships and trust became central success factors in sales. Salespeople became advisors and partners who strengthened customer loyalty through individual support and tailored offerings. CRM (customer relationship management) systems gained importance.
2000s – Consultative selling and the beginning of digitalisation
From 2000, the consultative selling approach gained importance: the salesperson acted as a strategic advisor who supported the customer in complex decision processes. At the same time, the digitalisation of sales began, for example through online presentations, email marketing and the first e-commerce platforms. Customers increasingly informed themselves before buying.
2010s – Inbound selling, social selling and data-based sales
In the last decade, sales became increasingly data- and technology-driven. Customers use the internet intensively to gather information, which led to a shift towards inbound selling: the customer finds the salesperson, not the other way around. Social selling (e.g. via LinkedIn) as well as the use of CRM, marketing-automation and analytics tools shaped modern sales. The personalisation of offerings and the use of artificial intelligence for customer analysis is on the rise.
The chronological overview is intended to provide a basic understanding of the changes in selling. In the following, we briefly present a few central sales approaches in order to offer an insight into this rather unknown field.
Consultative Selling
Mack Hanan published his book back in the 1970s. In this book, Hanan presented a new sales paradigm: instead of simply selling products, the salesperson should act as an advisor who helps the customer solve business problems and create added value — often measured in return on investment (ROI) or productivity gains. Later approaches went into added value more. But the exciting thing about this approach is that it forces the salesperson to determine the ROI for the customer as precisely as possible. A task that is not entirely trivial.
Important features of consultative selling:
- The focus is not on the product, but on the customer’s goals and challenges.
- The salesperson acts as a trusted advisor, not as a mere provider.
- The sales strategy is questioning and analysing rather than arguing.
- The goal is to develop a tailored solution that delivers concrete benefit.
Strategic Selling
This approach was developed in the 1980s and made known by the consultancy Miller Heiman Group (today part of Korn Ferry). Strategic Selling was developed specifically for complex B2B sales situations with multiple decision-makers. The approach helps salespeople navigate the sales process strategically by:
- identifying all influencers and decision-makers in the customer organisation,
- analysing their roles, interests and degree of influence,
- creating a strategic action plan for the sales process,
- and building long-term customer relationships instead of forcing short-term deals.
A central element of this sales approach is the comprehensive gathering of data about the customer and the subsequent analysis. The method is now widespread, but has come in for criticism that the effort is too great. Particularly due to the growth of the buying centre over the last 40 years, the analysis work can quickly get out of hand. But many later sales approaches build on the basic ideas of this approach.
SPIN Selling
This sales approach was developed in the late 1980s and published by Neil Rackham.
SPIN Selling is based on an extensive empirical study in which Rackham, with his company Huthwaite Research Group, analysed over 35,000 sales conversations in more than 20 countries. The aim was to find out what top salespeople do differently, especially in complex B2B sales.
SPIN = four types of question:
SPIN is an acronym for four kinds of question that salespeople should use deliberately in order to identify customer needs and present solutions strategically:
S – Situation: gather information about the current situation
P – Problem: uncover problems or weak points
I – Implication: make the consequences and effects of the problem clear
N – Need-Payoff: work out the benefit of the solution that the salesperson offers
Key statements:
Top salespeople talk less and ask more questions, especially implication and need-payoff questions.
Successful deals result not from pressure techniques, but from the targeted building of value for the customer.
Compared with Strategic Selling, this sales approach went more deeply into customer-data gathering and types of question. In addition, the sales conversation is divided into different phases in which the salesperson should behave differently.
Power Base Selling
This sales approach was first published in 1990 by Jim Holden. The approach builds on the concept of ‘power structures’ (power bases) within customer organisations. Holden recognised that in complex B2B sales, not only rational arguments are decisive, but above all relationships with influential people in the company — the so-called ‘power sponsors’.
Core elements of Power Base Selling:
- Identifying the power base: who in the company actually has influence over purchasing decisions?
- Focus on building relationships with these influential people — often not visible in the formal organisational chart.
Distinction between:
- Power sponsors (have real influence and support the sale),
- blockers (oppose the sales process),
- and neutrals.
- Emphasis on the political and interpersonal aspect of the sales process.
This is one of the few sales approaches that has an answer to the growth of the buying centre and puts the political dimension of purchasing decisions in focus. Many sales approaches assume that the higher ROI or the better value promise is already sufficient.
Challenger Sale
Challenger Sale was developed in 2011 by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.
The sales approach is based on a large-
scale study of over 6,000 salespeople worldwide, which examined which sales personality is most successful in complex B2B situations. Surprisingly, it turned out that ‘Challenger’ salespeople in particular perform above average in volatile, highly competitive markets.
The 5 salesperson types according to the study:
- The Hard Worker – diligent, persistent, disciplined
- The Lone Wolf – independent, self-confident, instinctive
- The Relationship Builder – customer-oriented, relationship-focused
- The Problem Solver – analytical, detail-oriented, reactive
- The Challenger – teaches the customer, challenges them, controls the sales conversation
Features of the Challenger Sale:
- Teach: surprise the customer with new findings or insights (‘commercial teaching’)
- Tailor: adapt messages and solutions to the customer’s specific interests
- Take Control: actively steer the sales process, and handle price negotiations assertively
The Challenger approach contradicts traditional methods such as relationship selling, as it shows that challenging, confrontational behaviour in particular is often more successful than pure relationship work — especially with complex, advice-intensive purchases. As convincing as the arguments are, this approach struggles in the Swiss sales landscape. Quite a few companies have failed with it. What the authors did not take into account or mention is that this approach works above all in horizons 2 and 3, and especially for open customers. This is the case considerably more often in the USA, and the target group is significantly larger. For standard sales in Switzerland of existing offerings in horizon 1, this sales approach quickly becomes too challenging — also because sales competencies in many companies are estimated to be considerably higher than they really are.
Finally, it is not enough simply to choose a sales approach and train it. Every company should critically review the different elements for itself and choose a combination that can actually be implemented by the employees, that is not too elaborate, but that also leads to more success and, above all, to learning and enabling.
