Not many people know that I spent the first eight years of my career in training focused on teaching consultative and strategic sales planning for companies all over the world. Although many people hate the idea of being a “salesperson,” I have long felt that if you approach sales as a profession, as a craft, it can be fun and highly rewarding. Here are some of my top recommendations for what I feel it takes to be a truly consultative salesperson or, as I call it, a trusted adviser.
Tell the truth. This is the first and most important of all aspects of being a great salesperson. If you want to have raving fan customers and repeat customers, they have to know that you always sell with integrity, and you always tell the truth. If I ever catch a salesperson lying, or even shading the truth slightly, I turn around and walk away immediately and you should, too.
Do not waste your customer’s time. In a recent national survey, 88 percent of business owners and managers said that the No. 1 reason they hate salespeople is that they waste their time. This means that to be a great consultative salesperson, you need to show up on time, be extremely well-prepared and focus intently on adding value to the customer and making sure that every minute they spend with you is time well invested.
Ask lots of questions. The best salespeople are incredibly curious; they want to learn everything they can about the customer’s needs, wants, concerns and issues. They ask high-impact questions focused on uncovering where they can add real value and deliver exactly the right solution for the customer.
Listen. After a great salesperson asks a highly focused and impactful question, they listen intently to the answer, write lots of notes and ask pertinent follow-up questions to continue to peel back the layers looking for more and more ways that they can add value and satisfy the customer’s needs.
Be an expert. I do not make this point lightly; when I say expert, I truly mean an expert on your products and services, the competition’s products and services, your customer’s needs and, if you’re selling in a business-to-business situation, the needs of your customer’s customers so that you can help them deliver better products and services to grow their business success.
Handle objections with confidence. When I am training salespeople, I will ask them, “What are the top three or four objections you get over and over again from your customers?” It amazes me that they have no problem quickly telling me the objections, but when I ask them how they handle those objections, they sort of shrug and look at me confused. Here is my advice: figure out the handful of objections you often get from your customers, then sit down and write out an absolutely stunning, logical and reasonable answer so that when you share this information with your customer, they look at you and say, “Thank you, that makes complete sense. I understand now.” There is no reason not to be brilliant at professionally addressing the common objections you will encounter.
Put the customer first. Always do what is in the best interest of the customer. Always. That means you need to give them the exact right product at a fair and reasonable price with complete confidence that they will be delighted and satisfied with their purchase. If you cannot do this, you should help them find the right product to buy from someone else. Yes, that’s right, help them go to your competition and buy the right thing at the right price. I promise you that if you do this, they will become much more loyal to you and will oftentimes buy from you (at a higher price) because they want to deal with someone who is honest and looking out for them.
Forget about price. After more than 20 years of sales experience closing deals upwards of $3 billion, I will tell you that nobody ever buys strictly on lowest price. Every customer wants the best price, which might be a low price, but it might be a very, very high price. As long as they feel that it is a reasonable price for what they are purchasing, they are happy to spend the money, even if it is in the billions!
Done correctly with integrity and honesty, sales is all about helping the customer solve a problem and get a superb solution at a reasonable price. When you look at it that way, spending your career helping people be happier, profitable and successful is a wonderful way to spend your time.