Fitting the Customer's Needs with Guided Selling

Guided Selling simplifies and automates the maintenance and deployment of all company knowledge and information that is required to effectively analyze customer needs, define the right solution and generate a proper and relevant proposal. A functional definition of the solution is provided to the customer, complete with commercial aspects of the proposal, such as prices, margins, texts, illustrations, lay-outs etc. In addition, the technical specification of the solution (such as bills of materials and routings) is generated for manufacturing and distribution.

How Guided Selling Works

Guided Selling is put in practice by means of an information system that supports the central management and maintenance of company knowledge and that supports the use of this knowledge by customers, dealers or sales representatives. Such company knowledge is stored in models, which are published to users by means of interactive questionnaires. The knowledge stored is related to functional, commercial and technical aspects of the customer needs and the solution. The proposal specific functions of Guided Selling are product configuration, technical calculations, commercial calculations and document generation.

Benefits of Guided Selling

Guided Selling ensures a simpler, better, more efficient, error free and faster sales process. Since customers, dealers and sales representatives have direct access to all relevant knowledge and information, the dependence on others, such as technical specialists, is reduced. Sales representatives using Guided Selling techniques or systems require less specific sales or product knowledge. Guided Selling greatly reduces errors and provides consistency in needs analysis, solution definition and proposal generation. Company knowledge is applied in a better and more consistent way. Quotations are made with less effort, in less time and at lower costs. Success rates of quotations increase due to higher quality quotations including propositions that better match customer needs at prices that are calculated more precisely.

Sales representatives using guided selling techniques or systems require less specific sales or product knowledge. Guided selling greatly reduces errors and provides consistency in needs analysis, product configuration and proposal generation.

Company knowledge is applied in a better and more consistent way. Quotations are made with less effort, in less time and at lower costs. Win rates of quotations increase due to higher quality quotations including proposals that better match customer needs at prices that are calculated more precisely.

·       Guided selling ensures consistent selling best practices

·       Guided selling delivers on pricing and order commitments

·       Guided selling eliminates errors that lead to configuring the wrong products, pricing, and proposals

·       Guided selling increases responsiveness to customer opportunities without incresasing cost

·       Guided selling improves profitability by eliminating non-value added activities into the manufacturing process

Comments

[Dale Wolf]

Hi Greg, sorry to be so slow on responding to your comment ... I'll blame it on too many holiday parties.

First of all, I am writing about the benefits of automating sales functions with guided selling technology. I try to keep my blog postings more generally useful about topics that can help companies improve their selling techniques and processes. Guided selling saves time and improves accuracy and quality.

Specifically, the company I work for (Cincom Systems) offers what analyst firm, Gartner, has labeled as one of the best Guided Selling tools available. You can read more about Cincom Acquire Sales and Product Configuration at www.cincomacquire.com.

[Greg Woodley]

Hey Dale,
what exactly are you selling ?
Doesn't seem to be an OBVIOUS link on the page to take me to an offer ?
Greg