A hallmark of adaptive selling is flexibility. Therefore, a combination of approaches sometimes provides the best avenue to need identification. Sales personnel who have adopted the consultative style, of course, use the question and survey approaches most frequently. Some selling situations, however, require that one of the other approaches be used, either alone or in combination with the question and survey approaches (Figure 10.4). An example of how a salesperson might use a referral and question approach combination follows:

Suggesting the use of a combination approach, noted sales authority Linda Richardson of Richardson Learning Systems advised to “go in armed to the gills with a full portfolio of knowledge, insights, data, and ideas. Use that portfolio to engage customers by sharing insights and asking business challenge questions that show that you know what you are talking about and that lead into your value. Intelligent questions provide as much insight as answers. They give you insights into the customer’s thinking and jumpstart the collaborative process. They also help you validate that your insight is relevant.”31