Consultative Selling: is Your Sales Process Selling You Short?

With the growing complexity of products and applications today, the old ways of selling based on the “gift of gab” is long gone. Compared to 10 or 20 years ago, today’s customer is usually doing the work of several and is wearing many hats at the same time. As such, no customer has time in their daily schedule to see just a ‘salesman’—even if that’s their brother-in-law! So, how does your salesperson bring value each and every time they meet with your customer? Key to this is to think from the buyer’s perspective; remember that your salesperson is there to uncover an unmet need for your customer, to help him understand and decide, to make the best selection to “get the job done”. Also, remember, that the customer is in an evaluation phase, including that of your company! So, your salesperson must approach the situation accordingly. Not only must your salesperson become an expert at what she’s selling, but also be able to analyze the customer’s application and pain-points, and be able to educate in a logical and coherent manner. The trick is to develop a process that provides a general recipe to your sales team using this 8-fold path to sales success:

1. Questioning: perhaps the most important skill, the right question is as critical as the right answer.

2. Listening: a greatly under-rated skill, you must know how to listen and not just hear.

3. Supporting: give the customer your sincere consideration, paraphrase to make sure you are on the same page.

4. Bridging: this is where you move the conversation from problem to solution.

5. Teachable Moments: this is where your expertise in the “job to be done” and the product you’re selling come together. But you must earn the customer’s trust first. Easier said than done?

6. Objection Handling: no sales pitch can ever be completely free from objections—but you must know what to do, what to say, and what to avoid.

7. Negotiating: while money will always be negotiated, it’s not always just about money. What are some do’s and don’ts here?

8. Gaining Commitment: this closes out the current round of consultative sales. Remember, commitment is not always a purchase order (although that would be great!), it could be just about anything such as a next step or a next meeting.

Is your sales process and sales team attuned to the complexities of the long sales cycle? Or are you losing out to the competition despite having the better product on the market? Contact us today for an analysis of your sales process—a few tweaks could change your sales trajectory.