As believers in word-of-mouth marketing, and being uncomfortable with agressive selling "techniques" (cold-calling, etc.), we found ourselves casting around for innovative selling strategies. Along the way we came across some interesting books: Hank Trisler's classic "No Bull Selling", published in 1983 and Neil Rackam's 1987 consultative selling book "Making Major Sales", were milestones. But it wasn't until we came across Sharon Drew Morgen's 1997 book "Selling with Integrity", where she introduces the concept of buying facilitation, that we felt we had found a way in which we consistently wanted to work with customers.

Selling with integrity/buying facilition is based on sound principles and beliefs:

The Six Principles

1. You have nothing to sell if there's no one to buy
2. Relationship comes first; task second
3. The buyer has the answers; the seller has the questions
4. Service is the goal; discovery is the outcome; a sale may be the solution (but may not be)
5. People buy only when they can't fill their own needs
6. People buy using their own buying patterns, not a seller's selling patterns

Buying Facilitation: The Beliefs

• The prospect has ultimate control over the outcome of the interaction
• The seller's job is to support the prospective buyer's needs
• The prospective buyer knows what s/he needs and can solve his/her own problems with the support of the seller's questions
• People buy only when they cannot solve their problems with their own internal resources; then they seek an external solution
• Sellers will find the right people to buy their product independent of their need to sell
• Prospective buyers and sellers trust each other and are honest with each other, communicating in a "We Space" uniquely their own
• Prospective buyers have the answers; sellers have the questions
• Prospective buyers know what they need, but prefer to work collaboratively with a seller in a "win-win" situation to support each other in getting their needs met.