Consultative Selling
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Consultative Selling, Commitment and Training – Like Oil & Water
- March 14, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We recently evaluated a sales force where the salespeople had, on average, only 18% of the attributes of a consultative seller.
“How could that be?”, asked the Director of Sales. “Achieve Global has come in 3 times in 3 years to teach consultative selling!”
That could be the punchline, but it’s not.
So, why didn’t the training on consultative selling stick? There are reasons aplenty!
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What is the Most Difficult Part of the Sales Process?
- December 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We discussed the various challenges associated with all three milestones and when all was said and done, everyone agreed that the midpoint, that crucial point in time where compelling reasons to buy must be identified, is the most difficult for salespeople.
Why? Well a quick look at the following list of mini-milestones, that must be accomplished in order to get to the point where compelling reasons will be shared, tells the whole story. How many of your salespeople can do all of this in their first meeting?
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Some Truths (You May Not Like) About Relationship Selling
- November 4, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There are 4 possible relationship scenarios:
Strong relationship and you have the business.
Strong relationship, but you don’t have the business.
Lack of relationship and you have the business.
Lack of relationship and you don’t have the business. -
Experiment – Which Sales Approach is Really More Effective?
- October 28, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
During the past 90 days, I have been secretly selling multiple ways. On one third of our opportunities, I have been selling the way we teach – using a formal, structured sales process with a consultative approach. On another third of our opportunities (inbound leads), I have experimented with a more transactional approach, although even that has a consultative element because I can’t help but ask some good questions. It simply means that I show and tell much earlier than normal. With the remaining third of our leads, I have experimented with allowing the buyer to dictate the process. My buyer-dictated approach included a little push-back because I can’t allow a potential client to take the wrong approach to a solution.
Want to know what happened? Look at the table below:
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Selling – We’re Going Back to AIDA And You Should Be Scared
- October 25, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
While the tools have changed, information is available in the blink of a click, and leads are in huge supply, people, at their core, have not changed the way they buy.
Sure, they may be meeting with or speaking with salespeople later in their buying process. Sure, they may take longer to make decisions. Sure, they may be more diligent about spending their money. But the one thing that has not changed is that they still have some motivation – some compelling reason – to spend their money and spend it with you instead of someone else.
The rush to embrace inbound marketing comes with a false sense of security and a poorly grounded belief that the sale is somehow easier, faster and more demo-centric today.
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Now That You Have a Sales Process, Never Mind
- October 16, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Here’s the premise: Companies that have been rigorously enforcing sales process should stop doing so because it is resulting in longer sales cycles, decreased conversion rates, unreliable forecasts and depressed margins. So they say. Here are some of the many problems with their premise:
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The Connection Between Gas Prices and Sales Lead Follow Up
- September 26, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Why do salespeople still do the things they used to do, even though those things don’t work anymore. For example, why do salespeople still sell transactionally when presenting/demoing, quoting/proposing and closing yields a 10-20% conversion ratio? Even if they were in hiding, everyone must have heard by now that a typical B2B sale requires a customer-centric consultative approach.
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Specific Words are So Crucial to a Sales Conversation
- August 27, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I just returned from a speaking engagement in Athens and had to stop at passport control several times during this trip. They always ask, “What kind of business?” and over the years I’ve used them all: consulting, speaking, training, business adviser, author, coaching, etc. I’ve learned that if I want to be interrogated, “speaker” would be the answer of choice. If I simply want to answer a few questions, “consultant” will do the trick. But to elicit the desired yawn from the officers, I only need to say “attend a conference.” Words make a huge difference and if you like scripts, you’ll be disappointed. But a well-chosen word or phrase at just the right time can be the difference between a resistant prospect and an intrigued one. Do you pay enough attention to the things you do and say as well as how you say them just before a prospect becomes resistant or more engaged? Well, you should!
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Top 6 Reasons Decision Makers Fail to Attend Your Meetings
- July 30, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
My mind doesn’t work the same as most people. I always seem to find a sales analogy buried somewhere. Frank, who writes the Sales Archaeologist Blog, has that ability too.
Recently, at a picnic with my family, I took note of all the guests and couldn’t help but see the similarities between the picnic and selling to a group.
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Top 3 Reasons Why Salespeople Fail at Consultative Selling?
- July 8, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the challenges with a consultative approach is that while it is easier to close the sale, it is far more difficult to implement than the traditional, transactional approach that today makes it so much harder to get the sale closed. The question is why?