Solutions Marketing Blog - Solutions Insights

Expert Video

Defining a "Solution"

"Solutions" is one of those slippery words that can mean anything and everything. In the context of B2B companies, however, the term has taken on a specific meaning. A council of leading solutions marketing professionals, sponsored by ITSMA, developed the following definition:

"A solution is a combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on a specific business problem that drives measurable business value."

While we like and agree with this definition, we believe that it's missing s few important elements, so here is our definition:

"A combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on a specific business problem or opportunity that drives measurable business value and can be significantly standardized. The solutions components can be from either the vendor and one or more partners, and the solutions implementer can be the vendor, the partner, the customer itself, or a combination of the three."

It's a bit longer, and doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but we nevertheless have found that it clicks with both buyers and sellers given its emphasis on solving specific business problems with measurable business value. Also, the value is determined by the amount of the solution that is delivered by each of the parties involved in creating the solution. Understood as such, the word "solution" can get beyond the hype and provide important direction to business strategy and operations.

Search our Website

Connect With Us

Solutions Marketing Success Model

Download Free Report

Solutions Marketing Blogs

Solutions Marketing LinkedIn Community

Entries in provocative selling (1)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 3:34 PM

3:34PM

Is solutions selling dead...or more important than ever?

Did longtime tech marketing guru Geoffrey Moore just publish an obituary for one of the most successful forms of selling in our industry’s history? In a recent Harvard Business Review article, “In a Downturn, Provoke your Customers,” Moore and his TCG Advisors team propose a new method for selling complex offers called Provocation-Based Selling. The TCG team states that in this tough economy, top sales teams need to provoke their customers with interesting and possibly game-changing options for their challenges. The authors contrast provocation-based selling with solutions selling, suggesting that solutions selling may no longer be effective in these tough times.

Click to read more ...