Mike Bosworth

Mike Bosworth

On his website it says "in 1983 Mike Bosworth developed a new buyer-oriented sales methodology called Solution Selling". That's not entirely true. It's no secret that much of the Solution Selling methodology is derived from Xerox sales training. Still, I have to tip my hat to Mike for putting together a sales training organization (and writing a book) that made such an impression on me. (I recommend the book for hard core followers only).

Why did Solution Selling make such an impression on me? In my career I've probably attended fifty or so training courses. None of them were as memorable (or as transformative) as Solution Selling (and I've taken it twice). I'll give a few examples, below.

Before I dive into a few examples I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Mike has recently started a new course and methodology called "Customer Centric Selling". Although I haven't attended the course I would have to give the book a thumbs down. There are merits to the book, but if I was a sales person looking for guidance it wouldn't be worth its cover price. Mike needs more help in the book area, in my opinion.

Concept:
Emotional Buying Decisions for Logical Reasons

Whether its a car or an enterprise software package, most of us make emotional buying decisions and retrofit a "logical reason" for doing so. I can use myself as the guinea pig here. I lobbied my company to buy me an Iphone.