Newsletter
September 2013
The Renaissance
Network News
Driving Revenue Growth Through
Solution-Based Selling
Why Now?
How do we know that students are learning? How do we
know that teachers are differentiating instruction to meet the
needs of each of their students? These questions permeate the
Education Market, and traditionally, educators may not have
had the tools they needed to answer them. Although print
products supply great curriculum and content for the classroom,
they do not provide data to inform us on what students are
retaining or how well teachers are teaching. As a result, there is a
heightened demand for accountability in the classroom, both
from a legislative perspective and from a desire to improve
student achievement, both inside and outside of the classroom.
The Education Market now demands that educators and
administrators have the answers to these questions. Education
companies have developed data-driven products to support
teacher accountability and student success, allowing teachers to
help students achieve by mapping out student progress.
As a result of a demand for products that are solutions to
these challenges, your salesperson must be able to sell for
solutions rather than for features. Your sales team must be
comfortable with a longer and more complex sales cycle in order
to be successful in the space. If your sales team is struggling with
solution-based selling, The Renaissance Network can help
evaluate your individual contributors for these sales skills, or
determine if they are more comfortable selling for features. If you
do not have the right talent, you may lose valuable time and
revenue. Let us help.
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Contents
Page 1 Why Now?
What is SolutionPage 2 Based Selling?
How Strong SolutionPage 2 Based Techniques Can
Uncover Your Clients’
Needs
Page 2 Feature-Based Selling
vs. Solution-Based
Selling
Page 3 How to Hire Solution
Savvy Salespeople
Page 4 Corporate Facts
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Newsletter
September 2013
What is Solution-Based Selling?
How Solution-Based Sales Techniques
Can Uncover Your Customer’s Needs
Solution-based selling is grounded in understanding the
needs’ of your decision makers. People do not want to be sold
something they do not need. Therefore, your salespeople
must determine what their needs are in order to help them
solve their problems.
Example
Education Salesperson: “Per our last conversation, I know
that your district is struggling with reading comprehension
and that your students are reading below grade level.”
Superintendent: “Correct, we are struggling to provide
adequate instruction to enable student success in the
classroom.”
Education Salesperson: “Are your teachers able to
differentiate instruction for each student and report on
student progress throughout the school year?”
Superintendent: “No and that is something we need.”
Education Salesperson: “I know that the content you use in
your classroom is important. However, we also know how
important it is for teachers to have the tools to differentiate
instruction and report on student progress. If you had one
tool that could do this for you, would it be valuable to you?
In today’s market, budgets now mandate classroom
technology funding for school districts. Solutions and digital
tools supply us with the knowledge we need to determine if
teachers are differentiating instruction to each students’ needs
and if students are learning the material. To ensure
accountability, data-driven instruction is imperative.
Providers of digital content and technology for the
classroom must strive to provide a solution for their
customers in order to see student success. As a result,
salespeople must be able to sell a solution. Rather than
approaching a client with the features of a product, it is
imperative that your sales executives can explain the solution
it provides for students, teachers, and administrators.
Feature-Based Selling vs.
Solution-Based Selling
A feature-based sale is sold on the
features and functions a product does.
A solution-based sale is sold on the
result a product provides the end user,
tailored to a specific need.
If your salesperson is selling online
teacher resources and lesson plans to a
superintendent…
A feature-based sale will address how
 The product allows teachers to see
complete lesson plans online.
 The product is accessible via a
mobile phone.
 The product allows students to
easily click through modules.
A solution-based sale will address
how
 The product allows teachers to
differentiate instruction and teach to
standards.
 The product allows administrators
to capture data and prove student
and teacher accountability.
 The product allows visibility of a
live snapshot of the classroom to
ensure teachers are executing lesson
plans on time.
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Newsletter
September 2013
How to Hire Solution Savvy Salespeople
`
When hiring new sales executives, ask the following questions to determine if the
candidates can sell your solution:
 Can you provide an example of an experience when you sold a digital solution?
 What kinds of questions do you ask decision makers when selling the solutions?
 Can you provide a time when you uncovered a need in a new customer?
Your sales executives should be comfortable with a long sales cycle and large deal sizes in order to
successfully penetrate the market. They should be able to articulate how the product is a solution
while targeting the decision makers’ pain points, selling in a consultative way rather than a
transactional manner.

If you believe you have a valuable solution for the Education Market but your sales team is
struggling, you must evaluate each individual contributor to determine if he or she is
selling based on features or solutions.
The Renaissance Network can help you evaluate your team, by providing:
 Behavioral interviewing reports on their ability to sell consultatively
 Background information on their past performance selling solutions
 Sales assessment, including key behavioral and cognitive traits fundamental to
successfully sell a solution
Is your sales team meeting quota?
In order to successfully sell into the Education Market, your salespeople must be intuitive and
inquisitive to uncover and address the decision makers’ needs. Do your salespeople understand
solution-based selling?
Let us help you evaluate your current team or find sales executives
who are comfortable with selling solutions.
Newsletter
August 2013
The Renaissance Network is an award-winning executive search firm, specialized in uncovering
and hunting over-achieving sales and leadership talent in the Education and Technology
markets. We strategize with our clients on their sales, marketing, and leadership teams’
organization and compensation plans, we analyze the competencies necessary to be successful
contributors to our clients’ organizations, and then we aggressively hunt top talent within the
industry. With a combination of efficient methodologies, knowledgeable team members, and the
largest network of contacts within Education and Technology, The Renaissance Network offers
its clients a trusted search partner, decreased search time, increased hiring success, confidence in
hiring, improved internal interview effectiveness, and a rapid market impact.
•
•
•
One of the first six search firms nationwide fully accredited by the National Association of
Personnel Services (NAPS)
Ranked as one of the top 25 recruiting firms in the Northeast by the Boston Business Journal
President, Lisa Sacchetti, is a member of the Software & Information Industry Association
(SIIA), a member of the SIIA Education Division Membership Committee, and was named
one of Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Best Executives for 2008
Contact Information:
Lisa Sacchetti, President
The Renaissance Network, Inc.
One Gateway Center, Suite 814
Newton, MA 02458
P: (617) 796-9200
[email protected]
www.ren-network.com