26 min read
Solution Selling: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Do It Right with Christopher Barnett
George B. Thomas
Sep 13, 2025 4:48:08 PM
When you hear “solution selling,” what pops into your mind? For many, sales still carries that old-school image of car lots and slick talkers who just want you to sign on the dotted line. That stereotype is broken. Modern sales are shifting, and solution selling is becoming more intelligent and human.
In this article, sparked by my conversation with Christopher Barnett, HubSpot Community Champion and founder of Workflow, we unpack what solution selling really means, why it matters in today’s market, and how you can start using it to grow stronger, lasting customer relationships.
What Solution Selling Really Means
Solution selling is about solving for the customer, plain and simple. It is not about quick wins or patching holes in the boat. It is about designing for the long haul.
Instead of only tackling the pain points a buyer faces right now, you also consider where they want to go and how your solution can help them scale, adapt, and succeed. You are not just answering today’s problems, you are positioning yourself as a trusted partner for the journey.
Why Businesses Need Solution Selling
Here is the truth. Traditional sales approaches are built around transactions. Get the contract signed, move on to the next lead, repeat. That might keep the pipeline full, but it rarely builds lasting impact.
Solution selling works because:
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It supports scalability. Customers see how your solution grows with them.
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It feels customer-first. You become a guide and partner instead of a salesperson.
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It builds long-term revenue. Loyal customers expand, renew, and refer others.
The real magic is turning customers into evangelists who tell your story for you.
The Core Principles of Solution Selling
Christopher laid out three principles that every sales leader and team should live by:
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Build genuine relationships. Care about the human, not just the deal.
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Think about the entire journey. Solutions should carry your customer toward their North Star, not just patch up their struggles.
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Solve at the root, not just the surface. Identify pain points about people, processes, or platforms, then design from there.
Why This Is Bigger Than the Sales Team
Too often, businesses think that selling solutions starts and ends with sales. That is a mistake.
When post-sale service or onboarding falls short, customers notice the difference. To make a solution sell real, marketing, sales, and customer success must all deliver on the promise. The customer should feel supported from the first hello to years into the relationship. That is how you turn happy customers into loud advocates.
How Solution Selling Breaks from Traditional Sales
Traditional sales is a sprint to the close. Solution selling is a marathon of relationship building.
The difference comes down to mindset. In a transactional model, the job ends once the contract is signed. In solution selling, that moment is just the beginning of the partnership. Marketing, sales, and service must align so that tone, messaging, and support feel consistent throughout the customer’s journey.
How to Truly Understand Customer Needs
If you want to sell solutions, you have to listen first. Customers often know their pain points more clearly than their goals. Pain points are immediate. Goals feel distant.
Your job is to connect the dots. Show how removing those pain point blockers leads directly toward the customer’s bigger vision. The more deeply you understand their world, the easier it is to prove your solution belongs.
Why Relationships Matter Most
Here is the uphill battle: 60 percent of buyers do not trust salespeople. That means you start every new conversation with a trust gap.
The only way to bridge that gap is through relationships. When customers feel that you truly care about their goals, when you take time to listen, and when you show up consistently, the perception of sales shifts. You are no longer a seller. You are a trusted guide.
Tailoring Your Solution to Fit the Customer
One-size-fits-all solutions rarely work. Customers want to see how your product or service will solve their problems. Christopher shared how his team often creates demo accounts in HubSpot that mirror the customer’s reality.
It differs between reading about a car in a brochure and test-driving it. The value becomes undeniable when buyers see their pain points solved in real time.
Common Challenges in Solution Selling
It is not all smooth sailing. Here are some common hurdles:
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Time investment. Building trust and tailoring solutions takes effort. Think of that time as an investment in long-term growth.
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Scalability questions. Some deals may not justify the full depth of work. Choose wisely.
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Changing perceptions. Overcoming the “sales is slimy” mindset takes vulnerability and persistence.
How Technology and AI Strengthen Solution Selling
Technology should not replace the human touch. It should enhance it.
For example, HubSpot’s AI tools can help during demos by instantly generating blog drafts or automating workflows tailored to the prospect’s needs. These small touches showcase value while reinforcing that you understand their goals. AI is not about shortcuts but about amplifying the personal experience you deliver.
Skills You Need to Succeed in Solution Selling
Want to be great at solution selling? Build these three skills:
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Listening. Go deeper than surface-level problems.
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Vulnerability. Acknowledge the trust gap and show humility.
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Empathy. Care about what the customer cares about.
Practice these in everyday conversations, and they will naturally carry over into your sales process.
Measuring Success the Right Way
Revenue matters, but the real test of solution selling is retention, expansion, and advocacy.
Ask yourself:
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Are customers staying longer?
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Are they expanding into other services or products?
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Are they referring new business to you?
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Do they publicly celebrate you on LinkedIn or in reviews?
If the answer is yes, you are not just closing deals. You are building an ecosystem of evangelists.
Where Solution Selling Is Headed
Faster product updates, smarter AI tools, and customer expectations for seamless service are shaping the future of solution selling.
Instead of bending CRMs to meet customer needs, more platforms are evolving to fit the customer directly. That makes listening to and feeding customer feedback into the ecosystem more critical.
The One Thing to Remember
If you take only one lesson from solution selling, let it be this: relationships matter most.
Processes will change, technology will evolve, and competitors will rise, but a genuine human connection is the foundation on which everything else stands. Solution selling is not about transactions. It is about transformation for your customer and your business.
Sidekick Strategies Expert Interviews
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Show Transcription
George B. Thomas (00:01.422)
Hello to all my hub heroes. I'm your boy George B Thomas and today on this episode of the sidekick strategies We're talking about solutions Selling what it is and how to do it right all the things that you need to know Mmm, I can't wait to dive into the foundational principles the customer centric approach the building Relationships and really what I'm saying is the brain of the expert that we have here today
That's right, today I'm here with Christopher Barnett from Workflow. Hub Heroes, if you don't know, Christopher is a leader in the HubSpot ecosystem and is passionate about fostering excellence and achievement within the HubSpot community. He's a HubSpot Community Champion, Houston Hub Leader, HubSpot Certified Trainer, and founder of Workflow. Christopher consistently provides superior service and expertise to clients in revenue operations, HubSpot configuration.
and sales empowerment and I believe probably so much more but we can't list everything when stepping away from Professional realm Christopher enjoys playing soccer nice cooking up culinary Delights you got me there attending to the garden and spending cherished time with family especially playing with his daughters and Wife and of course we can't forget ladies and gentlemen drop a knowledge bombs on podcasts interviews. Just like this one Christopher How the heck are you today?
Christopher Barnett (01:27.218)
I'm great. That was by far the best intro that you've ever had before. So doing better now. So yeah, very excited to be here. I'm a big fan of this podcast. I typically end my day while I'm going to run and listening to the Hub Heroes podcast. So I'm always excited to hear the new content coming out.
George B. Thomas (01:42.778)
Nice. Love it. Thank you. Appreciate the kind words. Okay, Hub Heroes, you know what time it is. Let's get into the good stuff. We're going to kind of introduce this idea of solution selling. So Christopher, let's just start at the very beginning. Level set for everybody that's watching or listening to the show today. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of when we say the word solution selling for the rest of this interview? Like.
its significance, what it is, and its significance in today's business landscape.
Christopher Barnett (02:15.562)
Yeah, I like to think of solution selling as solving for the customer and going beyond meaning that you're taking into account the pain points That they're experiencing now which brought that conversation to you You know initially as well as thinking about kind of a whole enchilada, right? So I'm a big believer in designing for the end state Meaning that when you're focusing on how you can you know pose your value proposition as a solution to that leads pain points It's not just about addressing the pain points now. It's thinking about how can my solution help that?
help that company scale or help that person scale their business by going beyond just those pain points because obviously we want to solve for those but the pain points are going to not just you know mitigate but evolve over time as that business gets more complex or grows and so your solution should be there for the long haul not just for that short term.
George B. Thomas (03:00.542)
I love this long haul idea versus short term. And I know there's gonna be people that watch this on the interwebs or listen to a podcast, and they're like, well, why should I change from what I'm doing now? And so I have to ask the question, why do you think this approach, solution selling, is better or a better choice for organizations moving forward than what they might currently be doing?
Christopher Barnett (03:23.098)
I think it boils down to scalability really is the main thing. So if you want to scale your business in a way that is measurable and maintainable overall, you really need to think about how do you design for that end state and work backwards from there. So when you're thinking about your young business or very established business, typically you have these annual or quarterly reviews addressing the goals and milestones that you want to hit over a certain timeframe in the future.
Christopher Barnett (03:52.872)
should factor in those goals and those milestones into their road map so that you can be part of that solution to ensure that scalability. So if you're thinking about your pain points now and how you can solve those for the time being, you want to ensure that it's not just going to put out the fire and then another fire pops up. You want to make sure that your solution is able to take care of everything in perpetuity.
George B. Thomas (04:16.882)
Love that so much. Okay, so again, paying attention to the audience, somebody stumbles into this podcast or video and they're like, hey, this solution selling sounds amazing. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting in this solution selling strategy or plan moving forward?
Christopher Barnett (04:36.75)
Yeah, I would really focus on building a relationship when you're selling something to someone because there's I mean I'll throw a data point here at you. It's a 60% of buyers distrust the integrity of salespeople. It's just no one likes being sold to it's just kind of the nature that we live in Nowadays you can think like car dealerships and places like that Unfortunately where you know, there's an infamy associated to sales unfortunately And so now it needs to be the first step when you're focusing on solution selling is building a relationship with that person and genuine
only caring about their value props and their pain points within their business. And so if you can act as a trusted partner and advisor and educate them on why your solution is the right fit, that will ultimately go way farther in the sales cycle in the lifetime of your engagement.
George B. Thomas (05:22.79)
Christopher, I love that you threw out some stats there. That's 60%. And let's be honest, probably 30% of the 40% just didn't take the survey. So that's why it was the 60%. I'm just joking, ladies and gentlemen, we do love salespeople if they're good, right? And if they're doing what they should, which is why Christopher, I want to dive into what I might call some of the foundational principles of the topic that we're talking about today. So what are the core principles or philosophies that kind of underpin this
selling that organizations really need to focus in on as they move forward.
Christopher Barnett (05:57.846)
Yeah, I would say the main one that I focus on as someone who you know preaches solution selling is build a relationship Right that is the most important Aspect of solution selling in my opinion number two is think about the entire journey And so it's a matter of you know not solving for the pain points now Not like patching the hole in the boat and waiting for another one to pop up It's how can we sail to the North Star with that solution? I would say number three is don't design around use cases
Christopher Barnett (06:27.72)
platform related, are they process related, are they people related, right? We don't want to design for a bunch of use cases, you know, and that is what the lead's pain point is. If it's a process problem, address that, right? Don't design your solution about just putting out those quick fires. It's a matter of, again, relationship, journey, and define for the end state, right? Make sure that there's no, you know, use cases that you're factoring in that are going to stop you from growing.
George B. Thomas (06:52.65)
Very cool. Love that a lot. And there's some good— That might be the first rewind point of the episode where go back, re-listen to that or re-watch that, and have your notepad ready. Now, one thing I have to make sure we hit, because again, the foundational pieces, when things are named a certain way, certain people think a certain way. So, for instance, we're talking about solution selling. Christopher, my question for you is, what departments should focus on these items? Like, is it truly just a sales team-only sport?
Where does your mind go with that?
Christopher Barnett (07:24.63)
That is by far the best question. It'd be the best question ever. So I'll give you an example, right, in the world of like B2B software, right? There is a common, going back to infamy in the sales cycle, right? There is a common scenario that happens where your support that you get pre-sale is amazing. You can contact a sales rep within eight seconds, right? You can text your sales rep or respond right away. Anything that they can do to offer the support, right?
deal and you want that same level of support after that deal has been closed, it's not the same. It's a night and day difference, which is not good for that customer. So if you're focusing on customer experience and solution selling, that solution applies for the entire life cycle of the customer, not just pre-sale. Because ultimately, if you're selling your solution, you're selling that you're a value trusted partner, that support needs to be a constant all the way through that customer because ultimately, we don't want customers. We want evangelists inside of our CRM.
George B. Thomas (08:24.346)
Woo!
Are you closing customers or evoking evangelists for your organization? There's something to think about there. And here's the thing. I don't know if the traditional sales philosophy or methods actually do that latter thing for us. And I know we kind of teased into it at the beginning, but I want to ask this question and allow you to go a little bit deeper, maybe even put on some boxing gloves if you feel the need.
selling differ from traditional sales methods. Christopher, where does your mind go? What would you want people to pick up and be able to understand?
Christopher Barnett (09:04.586)
Yeah, I would say keeping the customer at the center of the experience is I think the difference because in a traditional sales model, if you will, it's really just, you know, you're getting the customer to, you know, have that final touch point, final conversion, whatever it is, signing a contract, paying an invoice. Remember, sales rep is great. Onto the next one. I don't care, right? Because my job is done. Solution selling. If you think about this from like a true rev ops mindset, it's about, you know, marketing, sales and service should be more connected nowadays than ever before, right?
siloed departments in your organization, that's a serious problem, right? Revopsing your business by connecting those together is part of the pillars of solution selling because we want to make sure that tone and messaging and experience from pre-sale to mid-sale to post-sale to that evangelism stage as well is all constant and wonderful for that customer because that's how you create that evangelist level of success.
George B. Thomas (09:58.282)
So good. And it's funny because you mentioned this term customer centric approach. And I really think for some people that might be like, well...
we always think about products, the what, you know, like, so there might be a little bit of a mind shift that has to happen inside of organizations. So Christopher, can you explain how solution selling allows us to focus on customer needs and pain points and maybe walk us through like, when you're when that's happening in your daily process of solution selling, like, what are you thinking of? What are you doing? Like that type of thing.
Christopher Barnett (10:34.29)
Yeah, so there's a couple of key things that I focus on whenever I am, you know, doing my initial discovery whenever we are focusing on a solution and selling that solution. So number one is you need to know what is valuable and meaningful to that customer. That's kind of the main thing. So understanding and having that same language and that agreed upon value and what's meaningful to them is very, very important from the get go. From there, you need to get to know that customer's business very intimately, right?
case, the better your solution can be tailored to fit that model. Number three is collaborate with the customer to identify those problems and agree upon the solution.
that fits those customers problems and goals and think about beyond those in that end state as well. And so once you have that agreement between both, you're doing a couple of things. You're improving your relationship by taking their contextual knowledge into account, never building that solution. In addition, they see you as a trusted partner because they're thinking about, wow, this person is really getting to know my business intimately. They have a solution for what my pain points are. And they're thinking about how they can help me beyond when those pain points are solved because they have my best interests in mind.
And then from there, it's really simple once you agree and get acknowledgement of the value that you can deliver There's no selling at that point You're done selling because you've agreed upon the value between those two types of you know pain points and customer solution and from there it's Evangelism that's the beginning of that evangelist journey from there Once you've agreed and gotten the acknowledgement that your solution can solve for their problems and goals and beyond
George B. Thomas (12:09.11)
I like this idea of...
there's no more selling. And the word that popped in my mind, you used evangelism, but I was like, oh, at this point, you can serve like you can be a servant to what they actually need. And Christopher, I love that you mentioned this idea of understanding their needs and goals. And I want to get a little tactical, if you will, for a hot minute, Christopher, when you think of that, like what strategies do you recommend for effectively identifying and then understanding those unique needs or goals of the customer that you're trying to
Now serve instead of sell.
Christopher Barnett (12:42.702)
Yeah, I think it's you kind of have to work with the pain points and the goals in tandem because typically they're related So what I see in my experience is like you're talking about the tactical side is it's much easier for someone to define their pain points Than it is for someone to define their goals because the pain points typically affect them at a day to day or more frequent basis Than when they think about what they where they want to get to because they view the pain points as a blocker towards the goals And so if anything, it's kind of uncovering and you know, it's getting to know their business intimately
Like what I said before which is when you understand the pain points you understand these pain points are blockers towards a larger North star goal that this person is trying to get to so let's dive into that Let's see how you know if these pain points are really preventing you from growing We know that solving these is very valuable And so let's dive into the business to see what is the impact of my solution towards these pain points and how does that? Guide you towards that North star so it's a little bit of digging and discovery in the form of Really having a granular understanding of those pain points
blockers and what roadblocks are coming from those and how that's affecting the progress towards getting to that North Star goal.
George B. Thomas (13:48.969)
It's interesting because
As I'm listening to you answer the last couple of questions, I start to hear conversations and listening and spending time. And Christopher, dare I say it sounds like we're almost starting to build relationships with these humans that have hurdles or aspirations. It's kind of crazy to think of it that way. So let's dive into that. How important is relationship building in solution selling? And what are some key tactics for fostering
Christopher Barnett (14:05.066)
I know.
George B. Thomas (14:20.344)
customer relationships where now it's almost like they're not customers. They're just friends that you meet help and tend to send you money.
Christopher Barnett (14:26.942)
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's...
It's the most important because you know, I was talking to one of my wife's friends last night about this She said, you know, my fiance wants to go and work in sales and she's like, but I don't want him to work in sales And I said well why it's like because sales people are slimy and she went on this big rant about how you know I hate sales reps basically and i'm like, yeah because sales reps just have this negative connotation kind of going into that's why You know you see in the world of b2b sass like your title doesn't have the word sales in it It has you're an account executive or something like that and so
customer centric language because you have to get over that initial barrier of being you know someone who's trying to sell you right there's automatic friction that's kind of embedded in that relationship from the get-go and so it's really the more you focus on the relationship
the better the experience is going to be for both of you, not just the customer, but for me as well, right? Because if I can provide value and I can build a relationship and then be candid and transparent enough to say, hey, like, you know, I'm not ready to buy at this point in time, and I'm being told that as a sales rep, great. Thank you for telling me that. It's like, let's, you know, keep in touch on LinkedIn, and I'm gonna go onto my next opportunity. That way you're not going to get to this end state of spending three weeks building out proposals and ultimately getting a no in the long run.
you know, smooth their sales cycle for both parties in that situation because you have a relationship that's built upon trust and credibility.
George B. Thomas (15:51.882)
Mm-hmm. Trust and credibility, and that's where you're trying to get to. I think that's part of it, and we'll probably talk about what success looks like, but I feel like that's a section or a piece or a wing, if you will, of the building to success with solution selling. So let's, again, dive a little bit more into tactical, because I'm super curious, Christopher, your approach on this, and especially into this micro idea of tailoring it to...
to like for their needs. So I'll just ask the question, what is your approach to tailoring solutions to fit specific customer scenarios that you bump into? Like, how do you do that?
Christopher Barnett (16:30.795)
I'll give you a great example for all the HubSpot Solutions Partners listening, right? So Solutions Partners, pay attention to this. Whenever we do discovery calls with companies that are interested in buying HubSpot...
We like to think of this as going back to the, you know, purchasing a car scenario. Whenever you are interested in buying a car, you kind of have a rough idea of what you want in terms of, do I want an electric vehicle, you know, a three row car, whatever it is, right? But ultimately, your decision comes from test driving the vehicle, right? You always want to test drive it first. We believe in the same methodology for when we are demoing HubSpot for businesses that are net new to the world of HubSpot CRM. And so what we do is,
we will open up a demo account for that user, a trial account for that user, and make those light configurations to show them, this is how your pain points will be solved, here's how we can go beyond and get more strategic and ultimately help your organizations through the power of an integrated CRM. And so this is where you show the value, right? It's a service offering that's free in that demo process, in that biz dev process, that ultimately shows that you were a trusted partner because you're dumping the time into making that special for that user.
by thinking about their use case and using your resources and your team members to show this is exactly how we would solve it. Check it out.
George B. Thomas (17:51.134)
Mmm. Some good tips in there. Alright. Let's actually keep diving into these kind of good tips, because, again, let's go back to the fact that somebody might just be starting. This is something new to them. Yeah, I'm going to do solution selling. You've been doing it for a while. You've probably bumped into some challenges along the way. I'm like, whoa! Didn't see that one coming. Like, so what are some of the common challenges faced in solution selling? And how can the viewers or listeners...
Pay attention to those and then maybe be able to overcome those.
Christopher Barnett (18:24.222)
Yeah, I would say I imagine those that heard my last spiel on opening the demo account are thinking, well, I can't do that for every customer. It's not scalable. It's too much time to dump into that biz dev process. And so the common question that I get when we have these conversations is, how much time is too much biz dev time in solution selling? And I think that really depends upon what you're selling and the value of it as well. And so from my perspective,
We don't cap the hours in terms of the amount of biz dev time spent for a deal, unless it starts to get ridiculous where we know we're being led on, obviously, right? The biz dev time we view as an investment because it's not just investing in the purchase, but the value of the partnership in terms of, okay, this company or this person now views me and my company as a trusted partner for the long term.
meaning that investment gets calculated back into the business in terms of that long-term revenue. So it's, yeah, now we're going to be a trusted partner with you for the next five years. And we're going to help you with all of your revenue operation strategies, with all of your CRM implementation and configuration, and overall just have you at the heart of our business with everything that we do. And so this is where you're investing that biz dev time into the relationship, not so much into the sale.
George B. Thomas (19:36.454)
It's interesting, Christopher, my brain is going in two different directions right now with this next question. One, you mentioned demo account and kind of reference like what I'll say is a little bit of technology here, technology there. Hey, and even some more technology over here. And then as we're sitting here, you know, having this conversation, shoot, you know, GPTs just got released in chat GPT and AI is all the rage.
So I don't know which direction you want to go in or if you want to go in both directions, but I have to at least ask the question because inquiring minds are gonna want to know, how has technology influenced or transformed solution selling in the recent years?
Christopher Barnett (20:21.162)
Yeah, it's a great question. I think that technology specifically in the form of AI is going to do nothing but help sales reps be more effective in their day-to-day job role. And so I think about the power of HubSpot's AI tools, right? So chat spot and, or just the native AI tools that exist in the CRM as of now. So the content assistant is a great example. I'm gonna give another tactic on how I use HubSpot's AI tools in my demo process. So let's say that we have a lead who's interested in purchasing marketing hub
they say, I don't have bandwidth for a blog, right? It's just, it's too much time for my team to dump into it. I just, I don't know what topics to use, et cetera. What I do in my demo process is, let's use HubSpot's content assistant and let's write a blog right now together. And I will email it to you after this demo.
meaning that I can show you the power of the content assistant in real time and give you an actual usable blog post for you in this demo process. Right. And so I think that's things like that in the, in the world of AI and the world of just advanced technology are going to help sales reps be able to pull levers to show the solutions to a more advanced degree that is keeping that businesses use case in mind at the center of that strategy. So being really, really personalized and really, really tailored to those pain points and values and goals.
George B. Thomas (21:39.662)
Nice like that. I like how it's like just part of even the demo and process and that AI piece and to just the fact of the AI tools that are in HubSpot like focusing in on that and not just the broader everything AI topic was beautiful. So let's do this. There's people who are like, Yep, I'm sold solution selling. Let's do it. But they're wondering in the back of their head, like, do I got the chops for this? The answer, by the way, is probably yes. But
Christopher, what skills are essential for someone looking to excel in solution sellings and how can they develop them over time if they feel like some are stronger or some are weaker?
Christopher Barnett (22:20.49)
Yeah, that's a great question. I think that there's a couple of things that come to mind in the form of skills So I think listening is a big one And so really, you know talking about that second bullet point that I mentioned in that initial discovery is Getting to know that customers or that leads business very intimately means meaning listening to those pain points and Understanding at a really granular level. How does that affect that person's day to day? What are those roadblocks for the business, etc? So listening is a huge one I would say vulnerability is another big one as well
because when we think about that stat of 60% of people distrust the integrity of sales reps, you have to be vulnerable enough to understand that I am kind of at an automatic disposition in this sales process, if you will, and so I really need to focus on being as vulnerable as possible with this lead in order for them to trust me and my solution that I am bringing to them. And so to help develop that, I mean, I would encourage you to just practice this in your day-to-day life, focus on listening,
content of what someone's telling you if someone is talking about a bad day and or someone's talking about the pain points that they have sympathize and empathize with those pain points and get to know those pain points intimately and be able to offer a solution for those because that's how you build that trusted partnership
George B. Thomas (23:35.858)
Love it so much. And I'm about to dive into kind of the measuring success and the future of solution selling. But before I do, if you're listening to this on podcast or you're watching this on YouTube, and you want to get more resources, you need more of a sidekick because you're the hero in your organization, make sure you head over to HubHeroes Community. We're there to help you. Alright, let's get into the good stuff again. Measuring success and the future. Christopher, how do you measure success in solution selling? And
What do you think the important metrics are, or the most important metrics that you should be paying attention to?
Christopher Barnett (24:11.722)
Yeah, I think there's a couple and this is where your question previously about what teams focus on solution selling. This is where this is really interesting segue is one of the important metrics that we measure with solution selling is what is our customer retention rate? And within that retention rate, how many of those are upselling within our service agreement? Meaning they're using us for not just the first service line or product that we agreed upon but more than one.
using us for literally everything in their business because we are the trust partner for them. We're able to offer a full stack solution or full suite solution for this customer. So main KPIs, retention, how engaged is this customer with you now? How long has this customer been with you? And you know, all the core metrics that make sense as well, right? Your basic close rate, you know, things like that. But mainly it's how many of your customers are evangelists is the overarching, you know, KPI that you want to measure. How many of those are reviewing you in your directory profiles? How many of those are sending you
because they love working with you so much, they want to share it with their other colleagues and friends. What I would also recommend is measure your LinkedIn engagement from your actual customers. That's a big one, you know, because if you have that valued partnership, we love interacting with our customers' LinkedIn posts and their LinkedIn profiles. And so being able to support their content and have that being a mutual journey for the both of us makes all the difference because we have each other's best interests in mind.
George B. Thomas (25:40.842)
So good.
And again, second rewind point, people should go back and listen to that section again. And Christopher, it's interesting because I was literally in my brain as you're talking, envisioning, imagine just reaching out to your entire database and ask him, would you consider yourself an evangelist of who we are and what we do? Yes, maybe or no. And then being able to do something based on them selecting one of those options. Man, it would be really interesting to know.
is 30% or 90% considering themselves evangelists of what impact to your business. Anyway, let's move on because I want to know like there's many people out there the show me state, the proof is in the pudding, there's a whole bunch of like you know sayings that we could throw out there for this but they're like do show me show me the success. So Christopher can you share an example or a case study?
of sorts where solution selling significantly impacted a business or the process of selling in that business.
Christopher Barnett (26:47.65)
I'll give you a great example and I think I wore my Superd pullover for this exact use case. So, inbound 2023, right? We saw each other there. The best inbound that I've ever been to, I think, by far, probably the biggest that I've ever been to as well. We were part of the Superd 10K pitch competition. We were one of five finalists. And
George B. Thomas (27:02.035)
It was good.
Christopher Barnett (27:09.266)
I was thinking, how can I build a presentation that is going to blow the minds of those in the audience? And how can I really show value to those that are attending as well as those that will watch this after inbound is over? And so I...
was working with one of my colleagues internally, shout out to Ryan Quinn for developing that as the engineer. We dove into the real estate use case with Super, meaning how can we use HubSpot to solve for a specific industry vertical that is really, really hard for HubSpot to dive into, we chose real estate. This was countless hours of pain point analysis, focusing on goals and values, and how can we design an account that ultimately...
You know, it is the one point solution for all, you know, possible firms in the United States. And so with that, I called a customer on stage in front of, you know, I think it was hundreds of people in the audience at that point and deployed a live enterprise hub. A full suite solution that integrated the MLS, right? Sales pipelines, super cards, automatic workflows, emails, Google map, link creation, leveraging every single hub and the HubSpot product suite.
for a customer live on stage from there. I'll give you a capitalization on that example. We are now, you know, doing demos of this specific journey multiple times per week because we have designed this to be absolutely perfect for a solution for firms across the domestic U.S. And so that is one where
we've seen a crazy amount of activity on it because it is so tailored towards the pain points and the goals of the firms out there in the US. And so the proof is in the pudding in the sense of if you do it the right way, you don't have to go and hunt for the leads that want it, they come to you.
George B. Thomas (28:53.946)
Yeah, that is, I love that. You don't have to go hunting because you're just the magnet of what you're doing is pulling them in, that is so good. All right, so one of the questions that I've been excited this entire time to ask you, and it's kind of looking into the future, and I love to get people's brains to kind of like, here's what I think could possibly happen. So, I'll just ask the question.
What future trends do you foresee in and around this topic that we've been talking about today that is solution selling? What does your crystal ball or what does the future look like?
Christopher Barnett (29:31.202)
Yeah, I think The future of solution selling and the trends that we can expect to see are going to be more related to the velocity of the product updates that are coming out with the House about product roadmap and so I think that there is a lot of things happening in the community right now I see a lot of stuff on LinkedIn of people talking about I can't keep up to date with HubSpot product updates and I'm kind of thinking to myself like HubSpot is the only
you know, full stack CRM that actually listens to its customers and designs the product roadmap with their best interest in mind. And that is a fantastic thing because the alternative is much worse. You know, they don't have to listen to the customers if they don't want to, and they can build a product roadmap as is. I think if anything, solution selling is going to be more aligned with how can we take the limitations of a platform that we're seeing and, you know, submit that feedback and have HubSpot build a product roadmap to meet those more niche use cases over time. I think that it's not going to be easy.
to be a matter of we're going to always configure this out of the box CRM to meet the use case. I think that the use case will actually be more fit to be tailored to the CRM, if you will. It's going to kind of be the reverse of that journey. And so there's a lot of other things in there in the form of AI tools and things like that will help with the solution selling process. But I think that it's going to be more about the use case fitting the CRM and not the CRM fitting the use case.
George B. Thomas (30:55.078)
Love it so much. Okay, so now you didn't know this one was coming, but I have one last question before we let people get back to their regularly scheduled day. If we take this topic, solution and sellings, that we've been talking about for about 30 minutes now, what's the one thing, the one thing that you hope people take away from today's episode?
Christopher Barnett (31:18.142)
Relationship building is the main thing. You have to focus on building relationships in the sales process. And so this is where it makes all of the difference. And again, I will echo the data point of the distrust of people in sales types of roles. You're automatically at that disposition. So if you could focus on that relationship building and genuinely care about the interest and pain points, that will have the most immediate impact on your selling technique with posing your value as a solution. That by far is the most immediate.
impactful and the highest value from this episode.
George B. Thomas (31:51.998)
Very cool. Christopher, first of all, thank you for taking time to do this episode. We really do appreciate it. If people do have questions for you, where the heck do you want to point them?
Christopher Barnett (32:02.234)
Yeah, find me on LinkedIn. I talk about solution selling a lot Also, you know follow us in the house block community visit our website We've got tons of resources out there on solution selling and so happy to have chats just like this and appreciate you having me on the on the podcast today
George B. Thomas (32:16.966)
Of course, and we might have to have you back again in the near future. Hub Heroes, if you're listening to this on the podcast, make sure you head over to the community. If you're watching this on YouTube, hit that like or subscribe, but also you might want to head over to the community there too. There's a lot of other content we're putting in there. Listen, Christopher said it in this episode, keeping up with HubSpot.
Who, it's becoming a thing and we're doing what we can to help with that. Until next time, remember to be a happy, helpful, humble human and we'll see you on the next episode of Sidekick Strategies real soon.
George B. Thomas (32:52.51)
That was dope.
Christopher Barnett (32:53.858)
That was good.