THE POWER OF CONSULTATIVE SELLING

THE POWER OF CONSULTATIVE SELLINGWin the client through consulting, not giving adviceByAuthorSince the 1970s, business consultants have been spreading the gospel of consultative selling. According to that gospel, if you position yourself as the purveyor of solutions, you will capture sales, make friends and reap rewards for many days.While thats not inaccurate, consultative selling is often misunderstood. Ive seen more than a few producers equate “consult” with “advise.” Their brand of consultative selling amounts to going in and telling the prospect what he or she ought to be doing, then adding, “Oh, and by the way, my product/service does exactly that.”Consultative selling is less about advising and more about helping.In true consultative selling, the sales professional creates an experience in which both partiesseller and prospectundertake problem-solving together. Its an experience built on sincerity and early trust. Its established with dialogue and characterized by a spirit of one person seeking to help the other accomplish something important.Setting the toneSales professionals create such an experience in two ways: by leveraging their gifts and by developing a core set of other abilities that uniquely equip them to be of service.Leveraging gifts is easy. Each of us has talents and strengths that can be tapped when we call on prospective clients. The gift of humor, the gift of empathy, the gift of technical or industry expertisewhatever you have, you must harvest it when you engage with the person sitting across from you in a sales call. The prospect will begin to see you for who you areand when that happens, you take the first step toward building a relationship.But its not enough to tap that innate talent. You must develop other abilities that give you the power to create real value for your prospect. Having worked with dozens of producers and sales teams, Ive identified three core abilities that, when combined with a salespersons individual gifts, create a genuine consultative experience that consistently leads to a positive result.Preparing through studyFirst is the ability to study. Effective studying goes beyond a Google search that yields a few quick facts. It involves deeper preparation. You must picture what its like to be in the chair of the prospective clientenvisioning the challenges, anticipating the questions, imagining the reality. This kind of preparation involves delving into research, examining industry trends, studying recent developments at the prospective company, and understanding the prospects individual roles and responsibilities.But its not enough to do the homework. Developing the ability to study also requires self-examination, as well as studying your own habits and behaviors to ensure that they work to your advantage, not to your detriment. Practice your eye contact, so that you never look away when asked a question. Eliminate personal distractionsthe pen you unconsciously click, the bracelet you absently twirl. Acknowledge your own attitudes and emotions so that you can keep them in check when conversations move into certain territories.Preparing meaningful questionsAdvanced study of content (and self) forces you to envision the sales call, and when that happens, questions will come to mind. This is good, because the ability to ask meaningful questions is the second component of true consultative selling.The operative word here is “meaningful.” The staple questions of a sales call“Whos your current agent?” and “What are you now paying?”have their place, but that place is after youve engaged in a true dialogue with your prospect. So the questions you prepare must guide you into an open dialogue, during which you will uncover areas of need and points of pain.These are connecting questions, open-ended inquiries that engage the prospect and fuel discussion. The first of these are simple forays into common groundthe weather, sports, that photograph on the wall. They may be followed by more personal (though not prying) kinds of questions about the enterprise and your prospects involvement in it: “Tell me about how you came to work here.” Or: “What about the industry has changed the most since you joined Company name?”Each question opens a door to another. Through each door, you make your way to the day-to-day reality of your prospective client. Youre not working through a list of interrogatories; youre seeking information and following up. In your forward-looking questions, use this key phrase: “Tell me.” “Tell me about your companys growth plans. Are new initiatives in place for this year or beyond? Tell me more.” During this conversational journey, its crucial that you pay close attention to the energy of your prospective client. Is he or she enjoying the dialogue? When the prospects interest seems to wane, move on to the next topic. Effective listeningPaying attention to the prospects energy leads to that third core ability needed for consultative selling: the ability to actively listen. Theres a profound difference between simply listening to your prospect and actively listening. Mere listening is hearing what is being said. Active listening involves interpretation and taking steps to collaborate with the speaker. It requires you to observe the behavior of the speaker, pick up on nonverbal cues, and become attuned to feelings or emotions. Eliminating personal distractions, as noted above, provides the focus thats needed for active listening. This focus is further sharpened when you summarize, paraphrase or suggest examples about what your prospect is saying. The prospect is glad to be heard, but theres a benefit to you as well: When you actually speak what you hear, you begin to embrace its meaning. And when you do that, youre well on your way to partnering with your prospect.The right modeStudying, asking meaningful questions, actively listeningthese abilities seem so elementary, so obvious. For some of us, they are the natural gifts we can leverage. For others, theyre more elusive. Why is that?One reason is lack of time. The pressure to deliver sales results puts us in constant overdrive. We mistakenly believe that the more we do quickly, the more likely we are to get a result. But this kind of pace invariably pushes us into transaction mode. Producers who spend more time on fewer prospects are far more likely to build relationships and gain an understanding of the prospects needs and aims.Another factor is the sales culture. Sales cultures are fast-moving, sometimes free-wheeling. Producers often thrive on the adrenaline that comes from the volume of BlackBerry messages and phone callsgo, go, go. Sales become transactions. To sell with authenticity, you must get out of transaction mode and get into thoughtful mode.The most effective producers Ive seen are those who have mastered the ability to sell consultatively. They leave their agenda and their ego at the door. They care about helping and serving their prospective clients. They conduct deep study, ask meaningful questions and actively listen. As a result, theyre able to close the space between problem and solution.Its easy to be transactional. Its much harder to be consultative. But the results are much more rewardingfor you and your prospect. The authorDemmie Hicks is president and CEO of DBH Consulting, a firm that helps insurance distribution companies grow and sustain their growth. She has provided management consulting, growth strategies, and sales and marketing expertise to the insurance industry for more than 20 years.