The question that we got from many of our clients is which selling style is the most commonly used among salespeople. In the following paragraphs we will introduce some of the empirical researches that we came across and that we wanted to share with you.
A survey of 41,964 salespeople across several nations conducted by George W. Dudley and Treilitha R. Bryant found that 44% (over 18,000) chose Need – Oriented Selling, followed by 31% Competition- Oriented Selling, 15% Image-Oriented Selling, 6% Product – Oriented Selling and 2% Rapport – Oriented Selling. Less than 1% selected Service – Oriented Selling. For definitions of different selling styles, please refer to our last article (link).
Cultural Differences
Comparing sales practices across three nations (US, New Zealand and Sweden), research authors observed some of the cultural differences at work.
- Image is important to US (51%) and salespeople in New Zealand (51%). It is substantially less important to Swedish salespeople (31%).
- Salespeople in all three nations say they practice Need – Oriented Selling.
- Salespeople in Sweden practice Product – Oriented Selling least (30%) but only slightly less than Service –Oriented Selling (31%) and Image – Oriented Selling (31%)
- Salespeople in Sweden (67%) tend to be slightly more open to new sales methods than salespeople studied in other countries
It is not known if these results represent the natural behavioral preferences of the salespeople sampled or biases which may have been introduced during sales training.
Another study of more than 3,000 salespeople, done by same authors, found that Image- Oriented Sellers tend to exaggerate the most (55%) followed by Competition – Oriented (52%) and Need – Oriented Sellers (51%). Rapport – Oriented Sellers Exaggerate significantly less (45%) followed by Product – Oriented Sellers (47%).
Additional Study Findings are:
- Rapport – Oriented Sellers tend to be more indecisive and hedge more when faced with making a commitment before they are emotionally ready (23%) then other styles. Service – Oriented sellers tend to hedge the least (19%).
- Image – Oriented (72%) and Competition-Oriented (72%) Sellers are the most motivated to succeed in sales. Rapport – Oriented (62%) and Product – Oriented (67%) Sellers are the least.
- Image – Oriented Sellers (63%) are the most goal focused on their sales careers. Rapport – Oriented Sellers are the least (48%).
- Rapport – Oriented salespeople (42%) are more likely to experience career limiting fear, conflict and hesitation associated with initiating contact with prospective buyers. Image – Oriented Sellers (32%), Service – Oriented (35%) and Product – Oriented (38%) are least likely.
Your Selling Style is a matter of your personal preferences. You can stick with traditional selling techniques or you can embrace client – centered selling. Also you can draw from both in proportion that adds up to your success.
Do you know what your selling style is? Do you want to adopt different selling styles in your organization and improve sales performance in your department?
Contact us – Once you learn how to quickly and accurately adjust your selling style you will be able to close more sales in less time.
