Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
CHAPTER 5
ADAPTIVE SELLING FOR
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
Outline of Chapter
I. Types of Presentations
A. Standard Memorized Presentation
II. Adaptive Selling and Sales Success
III. Adaptive Selling: The Importance of Knowledge
A. Product and Company Knowledge
IV. The Social Style Matrix: A Training Program for Building Adaptive Selling Skills
A. Dimensions of Social Styles
1. Assertiveness
2. Responsiveness
B. Categories of Social Styles
1. Drivers
C. Identifying Customer’s Social Styles
D. Social Styles and Sales Presentations
E. Versatility
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
Teaching Suggestions
An alternative would be to use the PowerPoint slides provided with the text.
1. Begin the discussion on adaptive selling by talking about how important it is. Remind students
that personal selling is the most expensive form of communicating with customers, yet firms use
it anyway. Ask your students why firms use this expensive communication vehicle? They should
come to the conclusion that personal selling is more effective, so you might continue this line of
thought by asking why they think personal selling is more effective than other communication
vehicles? Review the different types of sales presentations and note that the flexibility increases
2. Emphasize the superiority of the customized presentation at every step of the sales process.
Customers know or can sense when they are listening to a canned presentation and the
3. Next, relate the concept of adaptive selling back to the buying behavior discussion in Chapter 3.
Talk about the different types of strategies that a salesperson can use to influence a customer’s
evaluation. Ask students if salespeople should select one of these strategies and use it on all
customers. Assuming that they decide that salespeople shouldn’t, ask them when each of these
strategies should be used? The use of a strategy depends upon the importance weights and beliefs
4. The previous discussion is a good lead-in to a discussion of the relationship between knowledge
and adaptive selling. After all, a salesperson needs very detailed and specific knowledge about
their product and their competitor’s products, in addition to knowing how much weight their
5. The social style matrix demonstrates one form of knowledge. The categories are: Driver,
You may want them to assess your own social style, using Exercise 5.1.
6. Students should understand that they need to know their own social style before they can
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
7. Discuss how each social style has its strengths and weaknesses. We know that one style is not
best in all situations, but to emphasize this point you might start the discussion by asking students
8. You may want to mention alternative training systems to the social style matrix exist. Be sure to
Suggested Answers to Ethics Problems
1. Your boss tells you about one of your buyers, Julie: “Just talk about Julie’s children. If
you do, she’ll like you and buy anything. Even more than she needs because she hates to
say no to someone she likes!” What will you do in that situation?
2. You have a buyer who is a real jerk. She is in constant battles with all the salespeople
who call on her, as well as with her own staff. Her business is important to you, and you
don’t want to lose it because you love the commissions on the sales you make. How
should you adapt to her social style?
Try your best not to take it personally. She works with all people in the same manner.
Without being a bully yourself, try to find ways to interact with her that are similar to the
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
Suggested Answers to Questions and Problems
1. A salesperson stated, “I just can’t stand to deal with buyers who shout at me and tell me in no
uncertain terms what they hate about me or my product.” Based on this limited amount of
information, what social style would you guess the salesperson to be? What would be your
response to this salesperson?
The salesperson sounds like an amiable. What the salesperson is really saying is that s/he likes
2. Some salespeople, far from using the benefits of technology, are still writing call notes on the
back of envelopes. What would be your response to salesperson who says, ‘I don’t need a bunch
of fancy technology. My system of taking hand notes works just fine for me!”
It truly depends on each person. No doubt some can keep track of information with hand–
3. A salesperson made the following comment: “I hate it when my sales manager makes calls with
me. I do so much better when I’m by myself. After the call, she is always telling me what I did
wrong.” Based on what you learned in this chapter on knowledge systems, what would be your
response to this salesperson?
While no one likes to hear all about the things they do wrong, that is actually one of the best ways
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
4. “A good salesperson can sell any customer.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
A key success factor in personal selling is the ability to use different sales approaches in different
situations and the ability to alter the sales approach based on a reassessment during the sales
5. Would a person with an amaible social style be better at selling than a person with a driver or an
expressive style? Why or why not?
No style is better than any other style. Effective selling involves adjusting your style to the style
of your customer. An amiable would be more effective selling to amiable customers, but not
6. Some people object to the social style matrix training system because they don’t want to “act”.
That can be a valid concern. What would you say to them?
We adapt to the situation we find ourselves in all walks of life. Students act different at football
7. What social styles would you assign to the following people?
a. David Letterman
When one author asked his students, they gave the answer of Expressive, although students might
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
8. The salesperson in Building Partnerships 5.1 changes her presentation depending on the
customer. If you were a salesperson for ADP like her, how would you know what a specific
situation called for?
Over time, the seller would interact with many different types of buyers and would learn to
9. Suppose that, during a sales call, a customer says, “I don’t think iPad’s are going to continue to
be a best-selling item in the future!” How should you respond if this customer is a driver? An
analytical?
10. Market research by a company specializing in designing and installing swimming pools
identified two types of hotels. Type I is concerned only about the ambiance of the pool area,
since most guests just sit by the pool while they socialize. Type II is concerned about providing a
good fitness option for its guests. How would you adapt the selling of your pools to each type?
Type I. Show lots of pictures of installed pools, especially night shots and shots which show
people relaxing and socializing pool side. Also share testimonials from hotels who have had
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
Suggested Answers to Case Problems
Case 5-1: I’m in a Hurry!
Questions
1. Based on the limited amount of information provided, what would you guess is the social style of the
buyer? How about the social style of the seller? Please explain your reasoning.
The fact that the buyer told the seller she had to go to a meeting would suggest she was a driver or
2. Make a list of five “rules” you could set for yourself as a salesperson to avoid making a buyer like this
angry at you.
Here are some possible rules.
1. Listen to what the buyer is saying. If the buyer says, “let’s do this some other time” do it later.
2. Watch nonverbal cues. If the buyer is giving cues that suggest a later meeting, follow those cues.
3. Do not make someone do what they do not want to do. It will only harm your relationship in the long
run.
Note from the buyer: This salesperson works in a very competitive business. Many groups offer the same
services, but I am usually interested in meeting with the different vendors to see if they have any unique
feature we have not already evaluated. What did I do in this case? Instead of calling the rep back, I did my
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
Case 5-2: Smith & Nephew Hip Replacements
Questions
1. If you were the salesrep in this situation, what would you do?
2. How would you discuss the situation with the doctor?
Here is what the salesperson actually did in this situation:
In this case I felt I had ethical obligations to the surgeon and the patient. I stepped out of the OR and
called one of our engineers to ask him what his opinion was, and he told me that I should strongly
End of Chapter Role Play
Note to the Instructor: Buyer sheets are in the Instructor’s Manual, Chapter 3.
When you debrief this role play, ask the students how many got it right, and ask if they got all the clues.
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
EXERCISE 5-1 WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSOR’S PERSONALITY STYLE?
Visit with a classmate or a professor and determine that person’s social style: Amiable, Driver,
Analytical, or Expressive. Do not ask any questions that will help you determine the social style. Instead
determine style on the basis of what you observe.
EXERCISE 5-2 A PERSONALITY ROLE PLAY
Gather two members of the class together with you. Take turns, with one person as seller, one as a buyer,
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
EXERCISE 5-3 SELF-ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL STYLES
Use the questionnaire and chart on the next page to assess your social style. Total your score on
assertiveness and divide by 15. Then total your score on responsiveness and divide by 15. Plot the two
average scores on the chart.
Assertiveness Ratings
I perceive myself as:
Quiet Talkative
1 2 3 4
Slow to Decide Fast to Decide
1 2 3 4
4 3 2 1
Going along Taking charge
1 2 3 4
Using opinions Using facts
4 3 2 1
1 2 3 4
4 3 2 1
Compliant Dominant
Emotional Unemotional
1 2 3 4
Deliberate Fast to Decide
1 2 3 4
Asking questions Making statements
1 2 3 4
Avoiding risks Taking risks
1 2 3 4
Animated Poker-faced
4 3 2 1
1 2 3 4
4 3 2 1
Cautious Carefree
1 2 3 4
Spontaneous Cautious
4 3 2 1
Indulgent Firm
1 2 3 4
Responsive Nonresponsive
4 3 2 1
Nonassertive Assertive
1 2 3 4
Mellow Matter-of-fact
1 2 3 4
Reserved Outgoing
1 2 3 4
Chapter 05 – Adaptive Selling for Relationship Building
5-11
EXERCISE 5-3 (Continued)
RESPONSIVENESS
Low
1
ANALYTICAL DRIVER