The marketing concept is the belief that a firm should dedicate all its policies, planning, and operations to the satisfaction of the customer. Salespeople today are problem solvers who obtain the participation of buyers in identifying their problems, which can be translated into needs.

The marketing era that began in the United States in the 1950s looked first at customer needs and wants and then created goods and services to meet those needs and wants. Consultative selling emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as an approach that emphasizes the identification of customer needs through effective communication between the salesperson and customer. The evolution of selling continued with the development of strategic selling and partnering.

Strategic selling evolved in the 1980s and involves the preparation of a carefully conceived plan to accomplish sales objectives. Strategic selling is based on a company’s strategic market plan, which takes into consideration the coordination of all the major functional areas of the business—production, marketing, finance, and personnel. The four broad strategic areas in the Strategic/Consultative–Selling Model (after development of personal-selling philosophy) are developing a relationship strategy, developing a product strategy, developing a customer strategy, and developing a presentation strategy.

Partnering is a strategically developed, long-term relationship that solves the customer’s problems. The long-term partnership is achieved when the salesperson is able to skillfully apply the four major strategies and therefore add value in various ways. Strategic Selling Alliances (or as it is sometimes called, Strategic Account Management) is the highest form of partnering. Strategic account management is an enterprise-wide initiative seeking the development of strategic partnering relationships with a limited number of key customers and focused on achieving long-term, significant, and measurable business.

Value-added selling has emerged as a major response to the customer economy. This approach to personal selling is defined as a series of creative improvements that enhance the customer’s experience. The information economy rewards those salespeople who have the skills, the knowledge, and the motivation to determine how to create value at every step of the sales process.