All businesses share a fundamental goal: finding buyers for their products and services. In today’s dynamic marketplace, where competition is fierce and noise is abundant, it’s crucial to differentiate yourself and connect with prospects on a deeper level. This is where consultative selling comes into play—a powerful approach that goes beyond traditional sales techniques. By building trust, understanding prospects’ unique needs, and delivering exceptional value, you can transform your sales process into a genuine partnership.
In this article inspired by a chapter from Opposite The Crowd, a book co-authored with my father, Alan, we’ll explore the evolution of selling, the essence of consultative selling done right, and how you can incorporate these principles into your business to achieve remarkable results.
Many factors come into play with how companies do business. The history of business, global competition, automation and technology have caused distinct phases of selling.
As products were first mass produced, sales looked an awful lot like pushing. The more people I ask, the more people will buy – it was simply a numbers game. But, buyers soon wised up to this practice. And today, buyers are more apt than ever to throw whatever salespeople are selling into the proverbial “spam” folder. It’s more challenging than ever to cut through the noise.
In response, “pull selling” rose in popularity. Pull selling highlights features and their benefits to consumers. Whenever I teach this concept the comical and sensationalized infomercials that air at 2 a.m. always come to the top of mind. Can a dishrag really be that much better than any other? Can it really soak up a gallon of water at once? I’m a skeptic. Is pull selling better than push selling? Yes. But consumers are wiser than ever.
As buyers became more discerning, a new approach emerged—consultative selling.
Consultative selling goes beyond simply presenting products and features. It’s about becoming a trusted advisor who deeply understands the prospect’s challenges and offers tailored solutions.
However, a crucial hurdle emerged—prospects were wary of salespeople asking probing questions without establishing a genuine relationship. To overcome this, consultative selling must transform into a service function, embodying authenticity and transparency. It’s not about pushing for a sale; it’s about demonstrating value and earning the right to engage with prospects.
Good consultative sales must become a service function, in a real and authentic way. And no, this isn’t as simple as changing the term from sales to customer service.
So, what exactly does consultative selling done the right way look like then? Or, at least, what is the Burkhard way of doing consultative selling?
To succeed in consultative selling, we follow the Burkhard Way—a proven framework that combines strategy, empathy, and value creation. Let’s dive into its key components:
– Provide value up front: After speaking with a prospect, we come back with a business summary and solutions that are directly aligned with their specific issues. Our summary has real value, too. We’ll give our prospect everything we learned, which may even be more than they’ve realized about their own company. After, we aren’t pushy about the prospect deciding to work with us. They could even take our solutions and discuss them with another agency or partner.
– Your company must work on its story. Prospects need to like and believe in who you are and what you do.
– Work to change customer perception. One of our main goals in our customer-driven culture is to change customer perception. We don’t do this by pushing our services, not taking the time to learn a prospect’s true problems or by providing cookie cutter solutions. To be truly consultative, we need to operate authentically and put our prospect’s needs first, even if that doesn’t result in a sale at the end of the day.
– Truly learn your prospect’s business. Every business is different, the key is to learn a prospective business and have that experience to apply what you know and what you do as a business.
– Be consultative not transactional. Consultative selling is not for transactional selling purposes. Simple transactions can be handled the Amazon way, frictionless and easy. Consultative selling solves complex business problems.
The bottom line? You need to earn the right to make a sale. By building trust, offering tailored solutions, and exceeding expectations, you can create a lasting impact in a crowded marketplace. Embrace the power of consultative selling, and become the trusted advisor your prospects seek. Remember, it’s not about selling ducks—it’s about earning the right, delivering value, and building relationships that stand the test of time.
Until next time, friends.
Chris
Our book is now available as a hard copy and Kindle on Amazon. We hope you will check it out here!
If you enjoyed this article, I recommend reading these past Outside Insights posts:
The Power of Nth Degree Thinking
When I Discovered Self-Care & Never Looked Back
Listen to the Outside Insights Podcast
Placers ‘Acts of Kindness’ Promise To Job Seekers and Businesses
Placers provides career coaches, job agents, resume writing, and interview preparation services for job seekers. We are the coach to the workforce.
We have vacant roles at the professional level as well as temporary work, temp-to-hire positions, direct-hire openings, and contract work. We have employment opportunities at all levels that solve employment challenges in the present.
Placers is also the consultant to businesses. Companies that would benefit from a revitalized 90-day business plan should contact us.
Placers has been an industry staffing leader for 51 years. Leading is about service. Leaders are positioned to serve. It’s one of our differentiators. It’s our promise to serve.
Take advantage of these complimentary offerings. Click here and complete the quick form.
Leave a Reply