© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building  What is adaptive selling?  Why is it important for salespeople to practice adaptive selling?  What kind of knowledge do salespeople need to practice adaptive selling?  How can salespeople acquire this knowledge?  How can salespeople adapt their sales strategies, presentations, and social styles to various situations? Some questions answered in this chapter are: 6-2 CHAPTER 5 McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Standard memorized presentation Outlined presentation (see ex: 6.1, p. 149) Customized presentation Adaptive Selling 6-3 Types of Presentations McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Knowledge Management Product and company knowledge –Salespeople need to have a lot of information about their products, services, company, and competitors. Knowledge about sales situations and customers 6-4 McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Knowledge Management (continued) How to create knowledge –Top company salespeople –Feedback from sales managers Other sources of knowledge –Web –Company sales manuals and newsletters –Sale meetings –Plant visits –Business and trade publications –Competitor displays at trade shows –Viewing competitor’s Web pages 6-5 McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Dimensions of social styles –Assertiveness – the degree to which people have opinions and make those opinions public –Responsiveness – the degree to which people express their emotions 6-6 The Social Style Matrix McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 6-7 Indicators of Assertiveness McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 6-8 Indicators of Responsiveness McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. What style are you? See pg. 158

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Social Style Matrix McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Drivers Expressives Amiables Analyticals 6-11 Selling to Various Social Styles McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Cues for Recognizing Social Styles McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Sales people learn the cues for identifying the four customer categories or types. Salespeople learn which adjustments they need to make in their communication style to be effective with each customer type The Role of Knowledge McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Adjusting Social Styles McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. When Selling To: Expressives Be enthusiastic Support opinions Ask questions Be a good listener Avoid too many facts Analyticals Be on time Support structure Ask specific questions Make deliberate proposal Do not move too fast

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. When Selling To: Drivers Be businesslike Support goals Ask specific questions Note responses Be organized Amiables Be friendly and professional Build a relationship Support feelings Provide personal assurances Use patience

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Training methods such as the social style matrix and expert systems are simply a first step in developing knowledge for practicing adaptive selling. Salespeople should avoid rigidly applying the classification rules Systems for Developing Adaptive Selling Skills McGraw-Hill/Irwin Expert system Computer program that mimics a human expert.

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Extensive knowledge of customer and sales situation types is a key ingredient in effective adaptive selling. Experienced salespeople organize customer knowledge into categories. The social style matrix illustrates the concept of developing categorical knowledge to facilitate adaptive selling. The social style matrix is one example of a categorical scheme salespeople can use to improve their knowledge and adaptability Summary McGraw-Hill/Irwin