Traditional sources of differentiation for organisations are unsustainable in today’s environment. How can you ensure your salespeople deliver sustainable Competitive Advantage for your organisation?

Current and future competitiveness requires the creation of a source of sustainable competitive differentiation. Today, traditional sources of differentiation (brand, technology, economies of scale) are unsustainable. We believe that in the long run, sales effectiveness is a critical source of sustainable competitive advantage and differentiation.

Making your sales force a source of competitive advantage requires more than training salespeople on new sales techniques. At Wilson Learning, we recognise the central role of both salespeople and sales leadership to sales effectiveness. Providing salespeople and sales leaders with the right skills, tools, and processes can propel your organisation forward, allowing you to out-perform the competition and deliver greater value to your customers.

At Wilson Learning, our research has shown that to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage, salespeople need to fulfil two, complementary roles. They have to be both Consultants to their clients and Strategists to their own organisation.

To serve as Consultants and Strategists, salespeople also need Personal and Technical Effectiveness skills. Personal Effectiveness is the individual capacity for self-development, innovation, and relationship skills. Technical Effectiveness is product-specific knowledge about characteristics and applications, combined with business acumen. While these skills are critical, and at one time were sufficient for effective sales performance, their primary role is to help make the salesperson a more effective business Consultant and Strategist.

Salesperson as a Consultant

The Counsellor Salesperson creates an advantage by serving as a business consultant to his or her customers. By knowing customers as a business (risk and success factors, capabilities, and processes), salespeople can establish the value of their solutions in terms of the customer’s profitability, growth, or improved competitiveness.

Salesperson as a Strategist

The salesperson as Strategist focuses on providing advantage to his or her own organisation, by determining which business is most profitable and executing winning strategies. A sales strategist is not only keenly aware of the competition, but understands his or her competitor’s sales strategies and creates an environment where he or she exploits competitor weaknesses while neutralizing competitor strengths.

Further Reading

• Sales as a Source of Competitive Advantage 
• Regaining the Competative Advantage
• Integrated Sales Leadership
• Read research reports on Learning & Development
• Wilson Learning Books: In conjunction with our learning programs we offer a variety of books which provide tools for measurable results in the business world.

Contact Us

Please call us! Our team would be delighted to help you with your enquiry:

+61 2 9232 4124

For questions or comments you would like to direct to us through email:

Email us - clientservices@wilsonlearning.com.au