Chapter 2What Is Insight Selling?
The New Source of Value
Value in the Seller, Not the Product
As early as 1970, books such as Mack Hanan’s Consultative Selling1 began popularizing the concept of focusing on how products and services improve a customer’s financial condition: less features, more benefits; less blind pitching, more connecting customer needs with how products and services solve them.
A revolution was born.
As products and services continue their march toward commoditization—and as buyer choice grows year after year—the value of the product or service in many cases has diminished. This isn’t because the product or service is not good; it’s just that buyers perceive they can get them from many places. This means they’re replaceable.
A new breed of sellers, however, has been changing the game. They’re not replaceable because of the value they, personally, bring to the table. This value is insight.
Insight is the new revolution.
Wolf & Company is a major regional accounting and consulting firm and a longtime client of RAIN Group. We spoke with one of their clients—the chief financial officer at a manufacturing company—about why the company continues to work with Wolf.
She told us, “Whenever I meet with Margery, ...
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