- Dan McKee
- May 13
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 1
Sales Success in Today's World Starts by Changing Mindset
In the fast-paced world of sales, it’s no longer enough to pitch harder or follow up faster. The best sales professionals win because they understand something deeper:
How to add differentiating value for every individual in their sales cycle from the first touch point with a prospect to the last.
Enter Sales as a Service —a powerful, structured way to continuously gather, process, and apply customer and industry insights in a way that positions you as the expert and earns you the opportunity to solve the customers problems.
Sales as a Service - help sales teams move beyond generic pitches to deliver tailored, relevant, and timely engagement at every stage of the sales process.
This is not just another sales technique—it’s a system that differentiates between mediocrity and High Achievement for sellers and teams. The most descriptive way of thinking about this is to contrast the mindset of selling as your own personal revenue generating engine and to shift it to a mindset of: “Sales as a Service”
This is a customer centric approach to selling. It’s what we at High Achiever refer to as an “inside out mentality” .
High Achiever sellers understand that selling is not about having great technique, great selling begins with INTENT and the intent is to serve.
Great Technique that is motivated by Great INTENT is the sweet spot for sellers and customers.
Great Technique motivated by self-serving manipulation is poor at best and destructive at worst.
Let's be honest, most sellers today reflect the latter not the former. This has to change if we are going to build organizations that are intent on building sustainable growth.
Great INTENT lives in harmony with Great Technique because it SERVES customers in a way that ENABLES them to make great decisions that are best for them.
Even when the decision is not to buy our solution. Closed deals and revenue acceleration is the buy-product of: “Sales as a Service”
The SAS Approach
SAS is an approach that places the customer's needs, challenges, and desired outcomes at the center of the sales process, rather than focusing primarily on product features or sales quotas.
My caution here is to ask you to consider two things before you move forward.
Poor Assumptions: Some of what you will read here might be things you have heard before. But if you make the poor assumption that because you have heard it you understand it you will likely miss the point. We coach sellers all the time that will say “I know that” yet when we dig into their sales process it’s very rare that these core principles are actively present in their day to day execution.
Wrong Intent: Yes, we are beating the drum on this point frankly because in the absence of the right mindset this is just a house of cards. DON’t lose sight of core concept:
Sales as a Service: The intent is to serve and the process we use is the means. As a result it’s incumbent upon us not only to understand the process but to execute it with rigor and discipline for the sake of our customers. The byproduct of which will be your own success. This is what High Achievers do.
Core Principles of Customer Centric Sales (SAS)
Customer Needs First: The sales process begins by understanding the customer's business challenges, pain points, and desired outcomes before discussing products or solutions. Commonly referred to by sales teams as “Discovery”
Unfortunately by default most sellers tend to move quickly to a demonstration. It’s a crutch for undisciplined sellers and rarely in the best interest of the prospect even though most prospects tend to want to push to see a demo. As sellers we need to control the process on behalf of the prospect.
A key part of the service we provide is living the first principle of;
“Seeking First to Understand, before attempting to be understood”
It might make us feel good to pitch our stuff, but the reality is that pitching our stuff without understanding the specific customer needs is, if not serving it’s selfish. It’s also a mutual waste of time. STOP!
Caution: We see sales teams all the time that tell us they run “ Discovery” as part of their sales process. A lot of them even have a check list of questions they use to guide the discovery process. The biggest challenge we see consistently within the process itself is that many sellers are using the check list as a checklist instead of a guidepost.
The intent of a set of discovery questions is simply a topical guide to use as a conversational framework, it’s NEVER a check the box activity.
The missing element here is after “Discovery that lacks Curiosity”
Curiosity is the primary driving behind “Seeking First to Understand”
The absence of curiosity is simply POOR SELLING.
The Irony:
Authentic curiosity is a force multiplier in the sales process. When you run discovery to the point of being able to more clearly understand and articulate the customer's problem better than they can, you are perceived as the expert and in being the expert radically improves your chances of earning the right to help the customer solve the problem.
Learn to do this right and watch your productivity sore. That is as long as you protect your primary motivator which is to serve.
We go deeper on this topic but I use the word perception earlier because it is a visceral representation of what the customer is feeling in the process.
“Sales as a Service” however dictates that we are not only the perceived experts but are truly experts within the realm of our own domain.
This is what we at High Achiever refer to as “Developing The Acumen Buckets”.
Value-Based Conversations: Discussions focus on the specific value and outcomes the customer will achieve rather than generic product features or technical specifications. Solutions and recommendations are tied directly to our clear understanding of customer needs.
Our primary intent in every conversation is to add value. Even if a customer does not buy anything from us, every engagement with us is driven out of our desire to add value. Because we are the experts, adding value in every conversation is a natural and fluid part of what we do. It’s also a core value of High Achievers. We call it “51/49 The Principle of Value” It is also the foundation of our sales framework “IDD” (Insight-Discovery-Demo).
Collaborative: The sales process becomes a collaborative journey where both the customer and salesperson work together to identify the best path forward. This is when we know we have become “trusted advisors” and are moving away from pitching a product to “Sales as a Service”.
Buying Teams: In complex sales cycles most organizations' purchase process consists of buying teams that are making a collaborative decision to purchase or not. Advancing to the prior step of “collaboration” means that you have to sell value across all of the individual stakeholders within the buying team.
You will often hear this referred to as “multithreading”.
“Multithreading” is often referenced from an internal sales team perspective , meaning we are multi-threaded for the purpose of navigating the purchase or signature process and communicating that process back to leadership for the sake of forecasting. This is one application for sure.
From a “selling as a service” perspective the reference is better suited to our intentional pursuit of adding unique value to each of the stakeholders within the buying team. Value that is focused on their individual problems and concerns and helping them understand why the collective solution also serves them individually.
Groups / Individuals / Icebergs: One of the challenges in selling to buying teams is their propensity to do everything as a group. This is good and bad. It gives us the opportunity to identify all of the stakeholders in the process and to begin to think about their unique needs. The problem is that if you are always selling in a group forum you will never truly understand the unique individual needs and concerns of each of the individuals. The group setting is the least effective place for you as a seller to uncover the iceberg issues that sit beneath the surface of the conversation. Issues that if left unaddressed often stand in the way of customers making decisions that are best suited for the collective needs of the organization.
This means that you not only have to sell to the team you must sell one on one across the buying team.
Don’t Ask: Asking for permission to work across the team can be a fatal flaw. If it’s overtly stated not to then you must sell why it’s in their best interest that you do. In the absence of it being overtly stated it’s just part of your service.
Part of “selling as a service” is knowing that there are common areas of dysfunction across most customers. It’s one of the reasons that the concept of buying teams has become more prevalent and selling to one or two key leaders is less common. As the expert you are best suited to serve the individual and collective needs of the buying team. This means you need to “multi-thread” for their sake more than our own. In the absence of doing this properly you are likely to end up in a “no decision” or “status quo” scenario and will not sell anything.
This happens because it’s rare for an individual champion within the buying team to be able to navigate the sales complexity of the buying team. This is why we call it “selling as a service”. It's part of the service we provide and we are the experts at it.
Parallel Sales Cycles: Helping Them Buy
One of the primary yet often overlooked services you have to bring to the process is not only the value of your solution but the value of helping the team understand how to buy. Internal procurement processes and business case development has gotten radically more complex. Along with this complexity the generational nuances of the marketplace means that a lot of the buying teams you are selling to have never purchased a solution in the past. Along with your champion trying to navigate the critical needs of the team they have to then understand how to actually purchase. This is often no small feat and a high percentage of deals fall out of the pipeline as a result of these complexities.
This means that as a seller providing a service you need to run a parallel sales cycle. The fist cycle addresses the problems your solution solves for the buying team.
The second cycle (run in parallel) means selling the team on the service you provide by helping them navigate purchasing. Your positioning has to be overt in the sense that it frames the problems you see with many organizations who do all the diligence to vet a solution, make a decision and yet never end up purchasing because of the internal complexity. Framing this in advance is critical. If you don’t you run the risk of your primary sponsor falsely believing they can get this done or that they are equipped to do it on their own, which is rarely the case.
Doing this right will also help you understand earlier in the sales cycle that you can help then buy and the context will help alleviate a lot of your own internal non-sense that comes out of poorly run forecast reviews and executives looking for deal context.
5. Avoid at all cost The “Fours Sins” That Contaminate the Sale Process
Sin of Commission (saying things that aren’t true)
Sin of Omission (withholding relevant information)
Sin of Dismissal (ignoring customer concerns)
Sin of Blindness (missing important ques)
All are counter to selling as a service!
Key Methodologies
Needs-Based Discovery: Using structured questioning techniques to uncover the customer's explicit and implicit needs, current situation, and desired future state. Always driven out of a deep curiosity and desire for clarity.
Solution Mapping: Carefully connecting specific solution capabilities to identify customer needs and desired outcomes, demonstrating clear relevance. Across the buying team and addressing individual and collective needs.
Value Articulation: Quantifying the business impact of addressing challenges or achieving outcomes, often through ROI analysis or business case development.
Objective Partnership: Treating customer concerns as opportunities for collaboration rather than obstacles to overcome, addressing them transparently. Being honest when the solution is not the right fit. Challenging the status quo. Openly stating concerns that may prevent them from succeeding.
Ongoing Success Commitment: Maintaining focus on customer outcomes post-sale, ensuring implementation leads to promised value.
Contrast with Traditional Selling
Traditional Selling | Selling As a Service |
Product-focused | Problem-focused |
Feature-based presentations | Value-based conversations |
Seller-driven process | Collaborative process |
Focuses on closing deals | Focuses on solving problems |
Transaction-oriented | Relationship-oriented |
Generic pitch | Tailored approach |
Seller does most talking | Seller asks questions and listens |
Implementation Challenges
Knowledge Requirements: Requires deep understanding of the customer's industry, business model, and common challenges.
Training Investment: Sales teams need significant training in consultative selling skills and value articulation.
Sales Cycle Impact: May lengthen initial sales cycles as more time is spent in discovery and solution alignment.
Organizational Alignment: Marketing, product, and customer success teams must align with this approach for consistent customer experience.
Measurement Evolution: Success metrics must evolve beyond pure volume to include quality of customer relationships and long-term value.
Benefits
Higher Win Rates: Better alignment with customer needs leads to higher close rates.
Larger Deal Sizes: Understanding full scope of customer challenges often reveals broader solution opportunities.
Reduced Price Sensitivity: When value is clearly articulated, price becomes less of a decision driver.
Shorter Sales Cycles: While initial discovery may take longer, qualification is stronger and time isn't wasted on poor-fit prospects.
Improved Customer Retention: Solutions truly aligned to customer needs lead to better implementation outcomes and higher satisfaction.
More Predictable Revenue: By focusing on customer success, expansion and renewal business becomes more reliable.
Customer-centric selling is fundamentally about reorienting the sales process around creating genuine value for customers rather than simply moving products. When implemented effectively, it creates sustainable growth through stronger customer relationships and improved alignment between what customers need and what the company provides.
Ready to transform your sales team into high-performing, customer-centric experts?
At High Achiever, we help organizations move beyond outdated sales tactics to build intentional, insight-driven sales systems that actually serve customers—and drive results.
Let’s talk about how Sales as a Service can reshape your team's mindset, deepen customer trust, and create more predictable growth.
👉 Connect with us to start building your SAS advantage.
