Episode #274: Our Solution Provision

What is the core principle behind this consultative sales approach?

This approach starts with a disciplined belief: a sale is only worth making if we can truly deliver the client’s required outcomes. After asking deep questions about the buyer’s current reality and desired future, we decide whether our solution fits. That decision must be honest, even if it means walking away.

Closing a deal with a wrong or partial solution may create short-term revenue, but it destroys long-term trust and reputation. Reputation and trust are permanent assets in the marketplace, especially in Japan business culture (日本企業 — Japanese companies) and multinational environments (外資系企業 — foreign-affiliated companies) where reliability shapes repeat business.

Mini-summary: The foundation is integrity: only sell when you can deliver the buyer’s real outcomes, because trust lasts longer than revenue.

Because only we know if our solution is correct for the buyer’s needs. If we force-fit a solution, the buyer won’t get results. That harms the client, and eventually harms us more through brand damage and lost credibility.

In competitive markets like Tokyo (東京 — Tokyo), buyers remember vendors who protect their outcomes over their own commissions. Saying no can be a strategy for long-term growth.

Mini-summary: Refusing a bad-fit deal protects outcomes, brand, and future revenue.

To present a solution convincingly, we follow a structured five-phase cadence:

1. Facts

2. Benefits

3. Applications

4. Evidence

5. Trial Close

These phases build belief step-by-step, moving the buyer from understanding what the solution is to trusting what it will achieve.

Mini-summary: The five phases are a proven sequence for guiding buyers from clarity to confidence to commitment.

Facts are the features, data, specifications, and proofs that show the solution is real and functional. Buyers—especially analytical types—often pull salespeople into micro-details. Those details matter, because they establish credibility and must be provable with hard evidence.

But remember:
buyers do not purchase the process; they purchase the outcomes produced by that process.

So facts are necessary, but not sufficient. They are your foundation, not your finish line.

Mini-summary: Facts create credibility, but you must connect them to outcomes or the buyer gets stuck in detail.

After explaining how the solution works, you must clarify what results those features create. A weight, dimension, method, or system is meaningless unless tied directly to what the buyer wants to achieve.

If the benefits don’t align with the buyer’s required outcomes, you’re solving the wrong problem. Your benefit story must match their goals perfectly.

Mini-summary: Benefits are features translated into outcomes the buyer actually cares about.

What does “Applications” mean in a real business context?

Applications explain how the benefits change the buyer’s business day-to-day. You detail:

• What pain points will be eliminated

• What strengths will expand

• What processes will improve

• What the buyer will see operationally after implementation

This is where “the rubber meets the road.” It works best when you deeply understand their company, their industry, their market position, and their competitors.

Mini-summary: Applications make benefits real by showing operational impact inside the buyer’s company.

Why is “Evidence” essential for buyer belief?

Because buyers don’t believe claims just because a salesperson says them. Evidence shows:

• The solution worked before

• For a similar company

• In a similar situation

• In a similar industry

The closer your example is to their reality, the stronger your credibility. Storytelling helps here: you bring the proof to life through people, actions, and results.

Mini-summary: Evidence removes doubt by proving the solution has delivered similar results before.

How does a “Trial Close” uncover real objections?

Once you walk through facts → benefits → applications → evidence, you test understanding and readiness with a simple question:
“How does that sound so far?”

Then stop talking. Let them answer.

Objections and questions are good—they signal interest. Silence is dangerous because it often means the buyer has already ruled you out.

Mini-summary: Trial closing surfaces real hesitations early so you can address them and move forward.

Do these five phases always happen in perfect order?

In real conversations, not always. Buyers may jump around. But your job is to guide the discussion back to the cadence so the buyer receives a complete, logical case.

Skipping phases weakens belief. Following the sequence strengthens commitment.

Mini-summary: Conversations may be messy, but success requires covering all five phases in order.

• Sell only when your solution truly fits the buyer’s required outcomes—trust is permanent.

• Present solutions in a five-phase cadence: facts, benefits, applications, evidence, trial close.

• Benefits and applications must align perfectly with buyer goals, not just product features.

• Evidence plus trial close converts understanding into belief and belief into action.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.