The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

The Relevance Revolution

It is hard to imagine a time when more currents have shifted than from 1998 to the present. New skills, attitudes, behaviors, mind-sets, and approaches are now required for sellers to thrive. However, insight from our seller surveys and deal reviews indicate that sellers are struggling to keep up with a business market that has been changed forever.

We see five trends disrupting traditional selling methods and challenging seller relevance, as shown in Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.3: Disruptive Trends

1. Online distribution models do not require human sellers. The rise of the Internet and the advances of computing have made it possible for buyers to purchase products with less direct interaction with sellers. Business-to-consumer online sales models, such as Amazon.com, are now finding their way into business-to-business sales. Industry analysts speculate that over time, customers will manage many of their supplier relationships with little or no interaction with sellers. This has prompted Gerhard Gschwandtner, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Selling Power, to ask in a recent editorial, How many salespeople will be left by 2020?1 “If we don’t find and fill a need faster than a computer, we won’t be needed,” he concludes.

2. Access to information has increased buyer leverage. Pre-Internet, customers had to meet with the seller to learn about the product. Sellers ...