Consultative Selling – Partnerships In Action
With consultative selling, sales leaders focus on asking the right questions to build relationships.
My last exchange with a car salesman was a reminder of the role sales has in leadership.
After exchanging pleasantries with the salesman he asked the question:
Why are you looking for a new vehicle?
It may seem like a basic question, but the question is a calculated sales and leadership strategy.
In the last few decades there has been a change in the way people interact when making purchases. As more companies have entered the marketplace the landscape has turned in favor of the consumer.
Consumers have more choice than ever and salespeople have had to react accordingly.
The change in the way salespeople interact with consumers today is known as Consultative Selling.
The method works for salespeople on the front lines, but it also works at every level of leadership in any company or group.
The concept is simple, but it does take time to learn.
Just like the salesman I met when searching for a vehicle, you need to understand consultative selling to position yourself as a leader.
Overview: Consultative Selling
The concept of consultative selling started about three or four decades ago.
The power during the sales process started showing signs of shifting in favour of the consumer. It happened in consumer goods and it also happened in business-to-business sales.
As competition increased, the buyer gained leverage.
Salespeople started focusing on what the customer needed instead of starting with what the company had to offer.
This approach was vastly different to what selling had been in the past.
For example, the Ford Model T initially filled a great customer need. People throughout the world needed a form of independent travel. The Model T gave people an affordable way to travel.
Ford had the market cornered and it resulted in a traditional selling approach. You’ve probably heard the quote, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black”.
This is a product-first approach.
As competition increased in the auto industry, consumers gained control. The salesperson had to adapt and start focusing again on needs of the customer.
Instead of opening the sales conversation with, “I would like to show you our new product…” salespeople started by asking, “What are you struggling with?”
It’s a completely different frame of mind for salespeople and business leaders.
Listen and Learn
It’s not that salespeople have gone into a sales situation with the idea of not listening to the buyer.
Every company needs to provide something consumers need. Either through discovery and research or by luck and chance, successful companies figure out what people need and create a product.
The lesson for business leaders is to acknowledge the consultative process and learn how to use it to become a better leader.
After all, leaders are the biggest salespeople of all. A leader needs to get everyone in the group, the company or the country to be on board with a strategy, vision or direction.
Those types of sales situations are not easy and it makes consultative selling essential for leaders.
The first step to consultative selling for leaders is to listen to the client and learn.
For leaders, this means listening to the people you work with – colleagues, co-directors and partners.
When you ask questions you learn about motivation. As you gather information you can figure out the best way to align motivation with the goals of the company.
A simple yet common example would be an eager manager in your organisation. She wants to work on a project that will allow her to prove her value in the company.
A traditional leader would assume focus first on the company and would not consider the manager’s motivations. This would lead to possibly assigning the manager the wrong role such as overseeing a department where the processes are unlikely to change.
A leader that understands consultative selling would ask the manager questions and would learn about her motivation. This knowledge would allow the leader to align the manager’s motivations with the company goals of growth.
The leader can now put the manager in charge of a new project where the manager is motivated to make new discoveries for increasing sales, which also happens to be in the best interest of the company.
Develop Trust
Part of being a leader is developing trust with others.
As part of the consultative sales process, salespeople develop trust with the prospect.
You’ve probably found in your career that people often trust from the first encounter with someone. That initial trust is either broken or enhanced with subsequent actions.
In selling, salespeople often make an early promise to the prospect. In business-to-business sales it might be offering to put together a quote and deliver in one week’s time.
The promise to have the quote ready by a deadline is a test of trust.
Deliver the quote on time and you enhance trust.
Deliver late with an excuse and the trust is strained.
You’ll deal with this same situation as a leader. You’ll often have the initial trust of those you work with, but the ongoing development of that trust will depend on your actions. Each person in your organisation pays attention to what you do and how you conduct yourself. They use these observations to develop a perception of the person you are and how it affects their situation.
In a selling situation those you communicate with during the selling process are observing your every move. People are generally trusting, but it can be easy to lose trust.
The suggestion here is to work on developing trust with a series of small, but important promises.
In the example of giving your manager responsibility on a new project the first block in the trust foundation was laid when you listened to her motivations. That showed her you were interested.
After that initial moment of trust come a series of steps to build the trust. You promise to discuss the new role with others on your team, which you do. You report back to the manager with the details, which shows her that you’re continuing to look into the situation.
You promise to provide a set of expectations, guidelines and deadlines for the new project, which you complete and present to the manager. Again, you show her you’re involved in the project and will fulfill on your promises no matter how small or insignificant they seem.
The relationship culminates with the start of the project and continues as you meet with the manager throughout the project.
If at any time the trust is broken you’ll have to start over to build it back up. Without it you’ll have a difficult time selling your leadership vision to your team.
Take a Leadership Role
With consultative selling it’s easy to assume that the customer is always in control.
In fact, the customer usually doesn’t want this to be the case.
Business-to-business sales often require the vendor to be a major part of the client’s business.
Today, a business might outsource display advertising or pay-per-click advertising. While the customer will let the vendor know what they want, the customer still expects the vender to take a leadership role providing guidance and results.
Leaders need to take the same leadership role with the team.
Instead of just listening and waiting for your team to take action you have to use the information gathered from listening to make decisions. This is what your team expects from their leader.
One area where your team will likely expect work from you is to provide them with a clear direction for the company. They want to know what they should be working towards as they perform their tasks.
Consultative selling is not all about listening and creating custom solutions. It’s about working and being the leader the customer needs so they can succeed.
Provide Accountability
The final step in understanding consultative selling, as a way to improve leadership, is to provide accountability.
As the leader, it’s your job to be accountable for your own actions and to uphold accountability for the actions of your team.
Salespeople deal with accountability all the time.. After listening and providing a custom solution they make promises. If something happens it’s the salesperson’s job to make sure the problem is solved.
Accountability is often not so much about what was wrong, but finding a way to move past the situation. It’s another characteristic of being a strong leader.
Rather than wasting time looking for someone to blame, a strong leader will take the present situation and figure out the best way to move forward.
Consultative selling happens around us every day.
In can happen right at your local auto dealer just as it did to me.
You can take the lessons of consultative selling and use them to improve your leadership skills.
It starts with asking questions. It continues by building trust.
It ends with being accountable and becoming the leader your team wants.
That’s how you’ll find success in your organisation.
