• Incorporates several product or service offerings tailored to meet the specific needs of the prospect
• Involves more than the individual sales lead including multiple specialists involved to match company capabilities to the needs of the prospect
• May be one of relatively few large sales closing in a quarter or year (the sales person is managing a small number of large opportunities, not a large number of small opportunities)
• Is a strategic buy for the prospect, with the opportunity to become more of a partner than a vendor over the long run
• Requires an understanding of both your company’s offerings and the business problems they solve, including the basis for an ROI type justification for the prospect’s investment
• Can be months or quarters in time to close (not weeks or months).

There are probably other characteristics that matter – but these are the hallmarks of the solution sale. The person executing this sale well is usually experienced, well-educated and highly compensated for an individual contributor sales person. They typically have a substantial base salary, with meaningful upside available when those large deals close. They also typically have significant influence over the profitability of the deal and/or the longer term relationship through a combination of pricing, product/deal configuration, and real value creation by matching capabilities with prospects’ needs. For this reason, they often are measured on deal profitability and/or account profitability. Typical plan design characteristics include:

1. Quarterly payouts (vs. monthly) in recognition of the longer sales cycles
2. Commission type plans (% of what is sold), as opposed to quota bonuses – because the deals are large and infrequent, so goal setting accuracy would be difficult
3. Capped at a deal level (not in aggregate) at a very high payout, perhaps 1 to 2 times the base
4. Profit/contribution measures (vs. bookings or revenue), perhaps in addition to bookings or revenue.