Foreword

Over the past few years, global economic pressure and competition have influenced the way customers across the world evaluate and adopt technology. Customers are seeking to reduce their ongoing operating costs to fund investments in new solutions targeted at specific opportunities in their businesses. In our engagement with partners and customers we recognize that solutions become relevant when they solve real business issues and help people and businesses become more efficient and agile.

The key to success is connection. And I believe very strongly in the importance of working to strengthen the interaction between Microsoft and our customers. It is through connection that we accomplish our goal of delivering solutions that provide customer value and satisfaction.

Our customers have asked for more predictability and consistency in their relationships with us. Towards this goal, we have established a consistent selling method for each and every one of us at Microsoft that enables us to act upon strengthening our connection and being more consistent with and predictable to our customers.

In our journey of working together, we have put the principles of Solution Selling at the core of our selling process, helping all of our 5,000 sales professionals and thousands of Microsoft’s business partners consistently apply proven sales principles to make a real difference to our customers and meet expectations.

Customer satisfaction is derived from exceeding expectations. Through the use of Solution Selling we can become more predictable to our customers in how we listen to their challenges and concerns, how we provide a vision of a solution, and how we deliver on that vision. It is my hope that by embracing the tenets of Solution Selling at the heart of our sales process, we will improve the value we deliver to customers.

This book is all about how to create and sustain a high-performance sales culture that maintains the customer as its central focus. The New Solution Selling describes how top-performing salespeople behave, and how this behavior fosters success—for both the customer and the seller. In this book, Keith Eades shows how our salespeople can become a key differentiator in the selection of Microsoft from all other alternatives in the market.

By adopting Solution Selling as our standard sales method, we can provide more value to our customers, while at the same time, improving our own effectiveness and efficiency. As you read The New Solution Selling, I would encourage you to apply these ideas for improving your own sales approach as well as for developing a high-performance sales culture within your organization to reach your mutual goal of customer value and satisfaction.

KEVIN JOHNSON,
Microsoft Group Vice President,
Worldwide Sales, Marketing, and Services