Salesmen who act as consultants have a competitive advantage.

Feb 1, 1999 12:00 PM, BILL DURKIN

Yesterday's sales strategies no longer meet today's demands. As a sales professional in a rapidly changing environment, you face significant challenges - from advances in technology to increasing concerns over cost containment. The 1990s have set in motion new standards for quality, efficiency and service. Today's customers are more demanding. Their budgets are leaner; expectations are higher; competition for business is fiercer. In this environment, clients must be approached as partners working toward mutually beneficial goals. As the needs of customers continue to evolve, the role of the salesperson must be redefined.

Meeting the challenge In today's competitive market, sales professionals must decide they will no longer compete solely on the basis of price and product. The real competitive advantage for any salesperson is the ability to act as a consultant.

Customers need the support of professionals who are continually improving their ability to help them solve problems. Customers are seeking consultative partners who know their business well enough to help them achieve their goals. The most successful salespeople realize that meeting this challenge and selling more than a good product at a fair price will create success for everyone.

Making the challenge In helping customers grow, today's professionals need to offer innovative ideas and provocative concepts that capture the heads and hearts of key decision-makers. In the past, salespeople typically focused their efforts on product presentations highlighting features and benefits. Although they knew their products, they rarely demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of the customer's problems and opportunities. Increasingly, customers are not willing to partner with suppliers who are unable to offer measurable value beyond communicating facts and figures.

As salespeople continually improve their ability to solve specific problems, they must also measure the impact their involvement has on the customer's security efforts. Beyond providing information, salespeople must clearly identify and articulate new opportunities, provide insightful ideas and take personal responsibility for helping customers improve security in dynamic new ways.

In partnering with customers, there is much to be gained by taking an entrepreneurial approach to determining the possibilities that exist for your clients. By developing solutions that never before existed for your customers, you not only add value, but also create it. When you have a thorough understanding of your customers' visions for the future, what they value, their core competencies, critical success factors and key threats, you will be able to contribute compelling new ideas that make you a vital resource. As a partner, you are building long-term, mutually beneficial success that extends beyond a one-time sale or request for proposal.

Building extraordinary relationships It is critical for salespeople to develop relationships with senior personnel in order to connect with their visions and values. You must earn the right to be a team member.

Beyond the value and pricing of your product, you want customers to respect your opinions and ideas. It takes a true understanding of their core values, the heart and soul of their operations and what drives them on an emotional level. In investing the time to really know the individuals, salespeople can generate ideas that connect with their core dreams and be perceived as a resource of first choice.

You should not try to "sell" your product immediately; rather, demonstrate your knowledge of company goals, and "sell" your ideas. The moment you can establish this connection, the senior contact becomes a coach who will steer you in the right direction.

When dealing as a consultant at any level, make an attempt to start listening for the customer's unique language. Consulting with customers requires you to genuinely listen to the way they describe things, the words they use in conversation, the ideologies they communicate. Then use their language when you speak to them. Customers have so much on their minds today that if you don't speak in a way that is easy for them to understand, they will never listen to you. If you ever catch yourself saying the same thing to more than one customer, you are speaking too generically.

Salespeople must start to see themselves as consultants who use a different language for each client they call on. It is helpful to write down observations as soon as you leave a client's organization and keep track of this information for future reference.

In connecting at the consultative level and presenting provocative ideas, there is an opportunity to demonstrate that you can out-perform the competition and establish a long-term alliance based on a mutual commitment. The salesperson that replaces formula features and canned presentations with creative ideas will capture attention and respect. To be effective, you need a great attitude and the confidence and courage to sell innovative ideas. If you are ready to take the risk toward making new customer connections and competing at the highest level, where do you start? With the basics.

Back to basics All of the truly great performers in any field know the importance of mastering the fundamentals of their craft. If you are committed to selling as a consultant, you must take your fundamental selling skills to another level. The two most important skills for you to develop are listening and questioning.

Asking the right questions High performing salespeople are able to use questions to get customers to turn their vague thoughts into specific statements that uncover problems and opportunities.

The more specific customers are about what they want, the more likely they are to act. Even though customers may seem interested when talking about vague problems or opportunities, they are usually not committed to taking action. The best salespeople realize they need to create a sense of urgency in the customer's mind before progress can be made.

You can accomplish this by asking the right questions and focusing on the customer's area of interest, not what you want to sell them. The right questions get you in-depth information on your customer's interests and help you both think creatively. The best sales meetings are the ones where you and your customer walk away having learned something valuable. Too often, salespeople never get more than a surface understanding of a subject when talking with a customer. Usually this is because they are in such a hurry to sell something.

The following questioning strategy is useful to help customers clarify their thinking and become motivated to act. It's important to remember this strategy is designed to help customers make intelligent decisions, not manipulate them into action.

Step 1: Listen for vague statements, such as, "We are not getting enough benefit from our CCTV system."

Many customers have not taken the time to think specifically about what they want. They often speak in vague generalities. A customer's interest in taking action at this point is not very strong.

Step 2: Turn vague problems into specific statements that include the current situation and the customer's vision for the future. You may ask, "What kind of security system do you have? What are its capabilities?" This defines the customer's current situation. Next, ask, "What do you want your security system to do?" The question identifies the customer's vision for the future.

Sales consultants see themselves as coaches, taking valuable customers from where they are to where they want to be. Sales consultants cannot create real value if their customers don't have an accurate understanding of the current and desired situation.

Step 3: Test for urgency by exploring with customers the perception of all the advantages of getting what they want and all the disadvantages of not reaching their goals. Ask. "How would your company benefit if you were to get the security system you want? What are the consequences for not reaching that goal?"

Sales consultants need to help their customers think about the consequences and payoff of reaching their desired destinations. Customers need to have compelling reasons to act before they will accept your help. No matter how persuasive you think your words might be at this point, hold off on telling customers what you think they should do. If you start selling at this point, your customers will view you as a peddler who is only interested in pushing a product, not as a professional consultant.

Step 4: Explore options for how the customer can solve the problem or capitalize on an opportunity. Avoid the tendency to tell the customer what you think at this time. Customers are more persuaded by what they say than by what you tell them. Besides, anything you want to share can be posed as a question. Instead of saying, "Another benefit is ...," ask, "What other benefits are there?" You can be more specific and ask, "What impact would this system have on after-hours security?" Vague problems are usually uncovered and defined in this manner. The most successful sales consultants are better at getting information than giving it. I recommend you use the following questions as a guide for measuring how much you know about key customers and contacts.

- What are the most important objectives this year? - How will the company benefit? - If something were to happen and they didn't reach their goals, what problems would that cause? - Which activities do they consider to be the best use of their time? - Which of their activities does not give them a good return on the amount of time invested?

If you can get customers involved in exploring options, they will be much more committed to taking action, and the final solutions will be much more creative than your original ideas. Besides, most customers don't like to be sold. Giving them an opportunity to create a customized solution makes customers feel like they are making more intelligent decisions.

Listening with an open mind

In addition to asking the right questions, you must also listen with an open mind. The good news is we are all brilliant listeners when we have the time and are interested in the person or topic. The consultant's challenge is to be able to listen when the customer needs to be heard. The key to listening is to stay focused. Most people speak at about 100 words a minute but the majority of us can think at about 1,000 words a minute. So when someone is speaking to you it is easy for your mind to wander. In the moment you notice you are not listening, you have an opportunity to start. Listening to someone is a gift. It makes good things possible that otherwise wouldn't happen.

Use this list of common problems to help you identify the negative habits that get in the way of your listening.

Wanting to give advice too quickly.

Being too busy, not having the time, energy or interest to listen.

Being too preoccupied; thinking about someone or something else.

Thinking you already know what the customer is going to say.

Thinking about what you are going to say next.

Use this list of positive ideas to identify behaviors that will make you a more effective listener.

Being sincerely interested in learning about other people's ideas.

Paying attention without preoccupation with other concerns.

Treating all conversations and people as though they were important.

Being sincerely interested in helping people make good decisions.

Allowing people time to complete their thoughts.

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© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

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