Salespeople often have a negative reputation that precedes them. When asked to describe salespeople, common responses include words and phrases like ‘pushy and ‘won’t take no for an answer.’ It’s no surprise that business owners view traditional sales tactics with scepticism. But it doesn’t have to be this way…by transforming salespeople from order takers, product pushers and oversellers into problem solvers, businesses can improve sales performance, strengthen client relationships and create a more positive brand experience.
Read on to explore the four types of salespeople, why the problem solver model is the most effective and how business owners can coach their teams to shift into this role using key strategies like active listening and thoughtful questioning.
The four types of salespeople
Not all salespeople are created equal. Salespeople generally fall into one of four distinct categories:
- Order taker
- Characteristics: The order taker’s role is largely administrative. They process inbound requests, respond to emails and fulfil orders. Their approach is reactive, not proactive.
- Impact: Order takers offer minimal value to the customer. Their role can often be replaced by automation or self-service platforms.
- Product pusher
- Characteristics: Product pushers are proactive, but for the wrong reasons. They aggressively promote their product with little regard for the customer’s actual needs. Their communication is often one-sided and driven by short-term sales goals.
- Impact: Product pushers reinforce negative stereotypes of salespeople as pushy. Their behaviour can damage trust and drive prospects away.
- Over-seller
- Characteristics: Over-sellers promise the world and fail to deliver. They’ll try to sell every product or service available, even if it’s not the right fit for the customer.
- Impact: Customers feel misled when promises aren’t kept. This erodes trust, damages the brand’s reputation and increases customer churn.
- Problem solver
- Characteristics: The problem solver listens, understands the customer’s business and identifies solutions to real issues. They’re relationship-driven and prioritise helping the customer meet their goals.
- Impact: Problem solvers build long-term trust and loyalty. They’re seen as partners rather than pushy salespeople, resulting in stronger relationships and repeat business.
The most successful salespeople are problem solvers
Only a small minority of salespeople operate as true problem solvers. The vast majority function as order takers, product pushers or oversellers. This imbalance occurs because product pushers and oversellers are focused on making the sale rather than understanding the customer’s true needs.
By training more salespeople to become problem solvers, businesses can dramatically improve sales performance, enhance customer experience and increase revenue.
How to coach salespeople to become problem solvers
If you want to improve sales performance and are ready to move your sales team from pushy sellers to trusted problem solvers, you need to coach the following:
- Focus on listening not talking
- Key metric: Talk-listen ratio (TL Ratio)
- Most salespeople’s talk-to-listen ratio is skewed in favour of talking. However, problem solvers reverse this dynamic. The ideal ratio is 20% talk, 80% listen – or even 10% talk, 90% listen.
- How to coach it: Encourage your sales team to adopt a ‘listen first’ mindset. Have them track their talk-to-listen ratio during sales calls. You can use call recordings to review performance and highlight moments where they could have listened more actively.
- Prioritise questions over statements
- Key metric: Statement-question ratio (SQ Ratio)
- When salespeople talk, they often make statements. Problem solvers, however, ask more questions than they make statements. A goal is an 80% question, 20% statement ratio.
- How to coach it: Train your team to ask open-ended questions that prompt deeper customer insights. Avoid “yes or no” questions and instead aim for explorative queries like “What’s your biggest challenge with X?” or “How do you currently handle Y?”
- Reframe the sales process to problem-solving
- Shift mindset: Teach your team to view themselves as consultants or advisors, not sellers. Their role is to understand the client’s comfort zone for pricing, features and benefits, then help them make informed decisions.
- How to coach it: Role-play scenarios where salespeople identify a client’s comfort zone (the range of acceptable price, quality and risk). Teach them to recognise ‘fear zones’ where the customer’s price perceptions shift from ‘too cheap to be good’ to ‘too expensive to be worth it.’ Help them guide clients to find comfort somewhere within this range.
- Measure and analyse sales performance
- Process over outcomes: Success isn’t just about closing deals – it’s about how deals are closed. A salesperson’s process is just as important as the outcome.
- How to coach it: Record sales calls and review them with the team. Analyse TL and SQ ratios, identify which questions produced the best responses and highlight moments where more active listening was needed.
The problem solver’s sales process
- Discovery: Ask questions, listen carefully and identify the customer’s needs and challenges.
- Analysis: Understand the customer’s comfort zone for pricing, quality and value.
- Solution design: Tailor solutions that meet customer needs, avoid ‘fear zones,’ and offer a solution within their comfort zone.
- Education: Use education to expand the customer’s comfort zone if necessary.
- Close with confidence: Since the customer’s needs have been met, the sale feels natural and frictionless.
In summary, the difference between a pushy salesperson and a trusted advisor is clear. Product pushers and oversellers are driven by quotas and ego, but problem solvers are driven by their customer’s success. The key to improving sales performance is shifting the sales team’s focus from selling to solving.
By training your team to listen more, ask better questions and guide customers to the right solutions, you’ll see a measurable improvement in sales performance and customer satisfaction.
Do you need help reframing your sales peoples’ mindset to that of a problem solver? Speak to Bill and he’ll let you know how he can help!
