6 Steps of Solution Selling for UCaaS Partners

It's time to find a solution for your customer, rather than finding customers for your solutions

A solution selling process differs from a more traditional sales process because, instead of just pushing a product, the seller focuses on a specific issue or problem the customer faces and suggests corresponding services or products to solve that issue.

Adopting the solution selling process for the Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) industry won’t require an entire overhaul. You can easily reframe your sales pitch to focus less on what your UCaaS product does and more on how it can solve or alleviate an issue. Just think of yourself as less of a salesperson and more of a consultant.

1. Prepare

This step follows the traditional sales process, with just a slight change of direction. Instead of researching who your potential customer is, you need to research what your potential client’s biggest problem or issue within the scope of unified communications might be. As you prepare for your first sales call or point of contact, research your prospective customer’s history and try to identify what roadblocks they face.

2. Diagnose

Use the research you’ve done in the previous step to further understand what roadblocks the client faces. Ask open-ended questions that require the client to address weaknesses in their current UCaaS system. As this line of questioning unfolds, you should take notes on where you see one of your UCaaS solutions fitting into their business.

3. Qualify

Use a set of questions or criteria to determine whether your lead is A) interested in the UC solution you’re offering and B) in a position to make a decision, whether that’s making a purchase, starting a trial, or agreeing to an additional sales call.

4. Educate

Here is where the real difference between the traditional sales process and the solution selling process becomes apparent. You need to give the client tangible reasons for not only why their business needs your UCaaS service but also how their business will benefit. Focus on elements like these:

• Return on Investment
• Reduced operation costs 
• Percentage of savings year-over-year

You might even consider preparing an example or a case study of a current or past client to demonstrate your UCaaS solution in action. 

5. Solve

Mirror the language and style of communicating that the client has used so far to present your UCaaS product as the solution to the specific pain points they discussed. In addition to cementing the effectiveness of your product or service, look for similarities in your new client and existing clients, and bring along any relevant case studies or examples. This step is about really driving home the solution you bring to the table.

6. Close

Listen to any remaining objections, counter those objections with benefit-driven responses, and move on to the close or next step. Take a cue from your potential client and decide whether the situation calls for a hard, direct close or a softer, more informal close. Always bring it back to why this customer needs your UCaaS solution.