Solution selling training teaches sellers to start with the customer's business problem rather than the product. Participants learn to diagnose pain and root causes, quantify impact, shape a solution with the buyer, build a business case and present a clear proposal. Bodhih runs it over 2 days in person or 4 × 3-hour virtual sessions for sales and pre-sales teams.
- Recommended: 2 days in person, or 4 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, customised to your offerings
- Level: Intermediate · In person · Live virtual · Blended
- Designed with the ADDIE model and customised to your context
- Offered by Bodhih since 2008 to 2,000+ organisations across 7 regions
Also known as: solution sales training, solution selling course, solution selling workshop, problem-based selling training
Where and how: solution selling training as an in-person workshop in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur; as a live online course; or delivered overseas in Dubai, Singapore and across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Last reviewed by Siddharthan VGJ, Founder · Bodhih Training, Bengaluru
Why buyers expect a diagnosis, not a demo
Buyers of complex solutions arrive with research from websites, peers and AI assistants. What they often lack is a clear view of which option truly fits their situation.
Solution selling training trains your team to be the one who clarifies that choice. They learn to connect problems, causes and outcomes before any demo or proposal is shared.
Gartner found B2B buyers used an average of seven information sources during a recent purchase.
What participants will be able to do
Diagnose before prescribing
Separate symptoms from root causes using a structured pain chain before proposing any solution.
Quantify the problem
Put a rupee or dollar value on the problem so urgency and budget become easier to secure.
Co-create the solution vision
Help the buyer describe the future state in their own words, which makes the eventual proposal feel like theirs.
Align sales and pre-sales
Plan who leads which part of the conversation so demos and technical workshops land on agreed pain points.
Write proposals that get read
Structure proposals around problem, impact, solution and proof rather than long product descriptions.
Defend value against cheaper options
Compare total cost and risk, not just price, when a buyer considers a simpler or cheaper alternative.
Who should attend
- Solution sales managers and enterprise account executives
- Pre-sales consultants, solution architects and sales engineers
- Bid and proposal teams in IT services and engineering firms
- Product specialists who support sales conversations
- Sales leaders introducing a common selling language
Program outline
Recommended design, customised to your context after a short needs analysis.
01From product pitch to problem solvingModule 1 · 90 min+
- Why feature-led pitches stall in complex sales
- The solution selling mindset and buyer's view of risk
- Common mistakes that turn sellers into order-takers
- Activity: rewrite a product pitch as a problem statement
02Diagnosing pain and root causesModule 2 · 2.5 hours+
- Building a pain chain across functions and roles
- Open, probing and impact questions in sequence
- Separating latent needs from active needs
- Role-play: diagnosing a supply chain delay with a COO persona
03Quantifying impact and building urgencyModule 3 · 2 hours+
- Cost of inaction and value driver trees
- Working with buyer data rather than assumptions
- Presenting numbers finance teams will trust
- Exercise: build a value estimate for a live opportunity
04Shaping the solution with the buyerModule 4 · 2 hours+
- Creating a shared solution vision
- Planning discovery workshops and tailored demos with pre-sales
- Managing scope and avoiding over-engineering
- Practice: run a 20-minute vision-building conversation
05Business case and proposalModule 5 · 2 hours+
- Problem, impact, solution and proof proposal structure
- Executive summaries for time-poor decision-makers
- Handling RFPs without losing the solution story
- Peer review: critique each other's executive summaries
06Proving value and closingModule 6 · 90 min+
- Proof points, pilots and reference stories
- Handling 'we can build this in-house' and cheaper alternatives
- Agreeing a decision path with the buyer
- Personal plan for two live opportunities
Sample training plan: 2-day hands-on design
This two-day design is for teams that sell things that must be configured, integrated or customised. Sellers and pre-sales work together on two live opportunities. They rewrite a product pitch as a problem, build a pain chain across the buyer's functions, diagnose a supply chain delay with a COO, quantify the cost of inaction, co-create a solution vision and critique each other's executive summaries. The capstone is a bid defence in front of a buyer panel, where the solution story must survive cheaper alternatives.
Participants can turn a pitch into a problem statement, build a pain chain and quantify the cost of inaction on a live opportunity.
- 09:30–10:00Pitch to problem relayEnergiser
- 10:00–11:00My pitch, rewrittenBuild sprint
- 11:15–11:45Order-taker trapsConcept burst
- 11:45–13:00Pain chain on the wallGroup challenge
- 13:45–15:00Diagnosing the COORole-play
- 15:15–16:30Cost of inactionHands-on lab
- 16:30–17:30Questions I still need answeredReflection
Participants can co-create a solution vision, write a persuasive executive summary and defend their solution against cheaper or in-house options.
- 09:30–10:00Over-engineeredEnergiser
- 10:00–11:00Building a shared visionSkill drill
- 11:15–12:00Demo and workshop plan with pre-salesPeer coaching
- 12:00–13:00Executive summary critiqueFeedback round
- 13:45–14:30We can build this in-houseSkill drill
- 14:30–15:45Bid defenceSimulation
- 16:00–16:45Agreeing the decision pathDemo & practice
- 16:45–17:30Plan for two live opportunitiesAction planning
Every session’s activity, timings, outputs and materials, plus pre-work, a 90-day reinforcement plan and how impact is measured. Free, emailed to you instantly.
Recommended: 2 days in person (09:30–17:30), or 4 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, plus a 90-day follow-up on two live opportunities. A sample design: every Bodhih program is customised after a short needs analysis.
How long is solution selling training?
The recommended design is two days in person, from 09:30 to 17:30, followed by a 90-day plan on two live opportunities. It also runs as four live virtual sessions of three hours each over two weeks, with diagnosis role-plays in breakout rooms and a bid defence panel on video.
What activities are included in solution selling training?
Sellers and pre-sales work on their own live opportunities. They rewrite a product pitch as a problem, build a pain chain on the wall, diagnose a supply chain delay with a COO persona, quantify the cost of inaction, critique executive summaries and defend their solution to a buyer panel.
How we deliver it
Live opportunity clinics
Participants work on their own open deals in small groups, applying each step to a real opportunity.
Sales and pre-sales together
We recommend joint cohorts so sellers and solution engineers practise hand-offs and shared discovery.
Generic, licence-free frameworks
We teach proven solution selling principles in plain language without depending on any trademarked methodology.
Customised through ADDIE
Our analysis phase captures your offerings, buyer personas and win-loss patterns to shape every case study.
Tailored versions
For IT services and software
Focuses on digital transformation buyers, cloud and data programs, and working with system integrators and partner ecosystems.
For engineering and industrial solutions
Adapts diagnosis and value models for plant efficiency, uptime, safety and total cost of ownership conversations.
Pre-sales masterclass
A focused one-day version for solution engineers on discovery workshops, tailored demos and technical storytelling.
How we measure impact
Impact is measured through the ADDIE Evaluate phase. A pre- and post-assessment on AssessAll checks diagnostic questioning and value articulation. Each participant submits a completed pain chain and value estimate for a live deal, reviewed by their manager within 30 days, and at 60 and 90 days we review agreed indicators such as proposal win rate, average deal size and the share of proposals with a quantified business case.
Pair this program with AssessAll, Bodhih’s AI assessment platform, for pre- and post-program skill measurement.
Frequently asked questions
What is solution selling?
Solution selling is a sales approach where the seller focuses on the buyer's business problem and designs a solution around it, instead of opening with a product. It involves diagnosing pain and root causes, quantifying impact, shaping a solution vision with the buyer and proving value through a business case. It works well for complex and customised offerings.
What are the main steps of solution selling?
The typical steps are preparing with account research, diagnosing the problem and its causes, quantifying the impact, co-creating a solution vision, proving value through a business case or pilot, and agreeing a decision path. Our solution selling training practises each step with role-plays and live opportunity clinics.
How is solution selling different from consultative selling?
Consultative selling focuses on building trust through listening and advice. Solution selling uses those skills but adds structure for complex deals: root cause diagnosis, value quantification, solution design with pre-sales and formal business cases. Consultative selling is broader, while solution selling is more process-driven for configured or bundled offerings.
Do you teach a licensed solution selling methodology?
No, we are not licensed to deliver any trademarked sales methodology, and we do not claim to be. We teach widely used solution selling principles in plain language, adapted to your products and buyers. If your organisation already uses a specific methodology, we can align our language and examples to support it.
Should pre-sales teams attend solution selling training?
We strongly recommend it. Many complex deals are won or lost at the hand-off between sales and pre-sales. When both groups learn the same diagnostic approach, demos become more relevant and proposals more focused; we can also run a separate pre-sales masterclass.
How do you build a business case for a solution sale?
Begin with the buyer's current cost of the problem, using their own data wherever possible. Estimate the improvement your solution can deliver, subtract total cost of ownership, and show payback time. Keep it short and easy to verify; our program includes a practical template and a peer review of each participant's business case.