Editor’s note: Paul Kirch is CEO of Actus Sales Intelligence, a Fort Worth, Texas, business and sales consulting agency. He can be reached at 214-295-6111 or at pkirch@actussales.com.
The phrase “consultative selling” is often overused and has taken on a broad definition. Despite how the term is thrown around, being consultative to your clients is important if you want to stand out as a go-to person when questions or challenges arise. The more they see you as a resource, the greater the trust in you.
Unfortunately, while most companies want their sales team to be consultative, either the people they hire don’t have the experience to guide their clients or the companies don’t provide appropriate training to help their salespeople fit into a consultative role. Both scenarios can lead to frustration by senior management, the client and, of course, the salesperson.
Sales representatives get frustrated when they believe they are doing all they can but feel like they don’t have the skills to advise their clients. At the same time, clients become irritated because they want to know that their sales rep is an expert in the products or services that they sell. The following elements can help your team improve its consultative selling approach.
Product knowledge
Product knowledge is key to consultative selling. Salespeople need to understand the product features and how a customer might use them. What are the advantages to your product/service and how is it superior to other, competing offerings?
Product benefits
Taking the product training a step further, salespeople must understand the benefits your product offers your customers. Go beyond understanding the functions your products provide and train your team on why customers buy from you and the benefits they’ll receive. Also, of equal importance, they should be trained on how customers utilize the items that you sell.
Question skills
The questions your team asks can help uncover client needs and identify ways to provide unique solutions. Questions can help a less-knowledgeable representative seem more skilled than s/he is by creating a sales environment where the buyer discloses great details via Q&A. Work with your team to help them ask better questions that uncover needs and focus on engagement.
Testing and evaluating
One of the biggest mistakes many organizations make is not testing the performance and aptitude of the people who are speaking to clients every day. Tracking customer satisfaction may only provide a one-dimensional read on performance. After all, what is satisfactory service to a customer may not be desirable to upper management. Remember, satisfaction is not synonymous with loyalty or retention.
To ensure that your staff is fitting a consultative sales model, test their skills through role-playing exercises. For best results, make it a training opportunity where their teammates are invited to participate and provide feedback. It’s important that it not become a critical environment but one that’s enjoyable, enlightening and educational. Quizzes or tests following the training can also help ensure that the information is retained. For testing and evaluating to be received positively, it’s important to get the support of the team being measured.
Provide the right tools
Does your team have the knowledge and ability to adopt a consultative approach to sales? If you can provide the right tools, training and regular evaluation, you can be assured that their approach meets your expectation and helps you stand out as the best solution.