How could a culture of consultative selling benefit my organisation?
Consultative selling can transform the performance of a rep (sales representative) from mediocre to outstanding. The process brings the customer’s narrative to the forefront of every conversation and reminds the rep of the reason they have 2 ears and only 1 mouth. It is also designed to truly benefit the seller and the buyer.
Why bother to be consultative?
It’s easier to focus on what’s in it for you, than it is to evaluate the benefits to the prospect (prospective customer). Luckily, consultative selling benefits both parties.
By building a company on a foundation of consultative selling, I’ve witnessed strong conversion ratios and happy customers, but the successes don’t stop there. Client retention is solid. Some organisations have been working with me for as many as 18 years.
It may also come as a surprise that our digital marketing agency was listed twice in the AFR Fast 100, despite spending very little on our own marketing. The reason is that happy customers refer their peers to businesses that they have enjoyed working with, so we are blessed with a continuous stream of client referrals.
Is consultative selling for everyone?
The consultative style is designed to assist the prospect in evaluating how the purchase will enable them to close the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. This makes particular sense when solution selling, as the rep can often tailor the offering to the prospect according to their requirements. The solution-based conversation guides both parties to a mutually beneficial partnership, so that closing the sale is a clear win for all.
Where the offering is a standard product / widget, the risk in truly consultatively selling for the sales representative is that the process may guide the prospect to a solution that isn’t available from the rep. They then have the tough choice of either trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, or ethically qualifying the opportunity out for both parties. While qualifying out can do wonders for the reputation of the selling party’s business, it does little to assist the rep in meeting their short-term sales goals.
For example, the prospect may be in the business of selling energy solutions that specifically assist home movers and the rep may sell radio advertising. The rep could argue that the prospect will reach a considerable % of their target market with radio ads. They would, however, likely know that the prospect would suffer less advertising wastage if they switched to a campaign that heavily targets home movers on social media, without paying to reach millions of people that are not currently moving. It isn’t an easy choice to make for a rep with a sales target.
Therefore, depending on breadth and available customisation of the sales offering, the rep and the organisation often makes an unconscious choice between:
- Product pushing
- Basic probe and match sales
- True consultative selling
The bold company focussed on long-term reputation will foster a culture of consultative selling, regardless of what they sell, favouring customer experience over short term goals.
How effective is consultative selling training on sales performance?
For any sales training to be effective, it needs to be delivered well and the rep needs to practice, practice, practice, in order to retain the learnings.
Salesloft claim that 87% of sales training is normally forgotten, due in part to a lack of follow-on coaching back in the sales environment.
The overall sales culture, of which coaching forms only one part, might also be the greatest challenge to the success of training. In a fantastic Forbes article by Lisa Earle McLeod, it is argued that “transactional deal focus” within the sales culture is usually valued more than “consultative customer focus.” McLeod breaks this down into a range of areas, including:
- Leadership and sales meeting narrative focussing on revenue targets and deal closing over customer needs
- Generic marketing messages
- Rewards, recognition and CRM tracking focussing on numbers over customer success insights
I have witnessed negative sales cultures first-hand and have even felt I’ve had to hide my desire to focus on customer needs over sales targets in some organisations, which was very frustrating. I’ve listened to sales reps being trained on how to manipulate a customer into continuing their business with the rep, despite unfair and unethical treatment, under the guise of consultative selling training. This is not a true representation of consultative selling. If the goals and successes of the prospect are not at the heart of the conversation, this is thinly vailed manipulation, which will lead to long term business challenges.
How will the reps feel about consultative selling?
Apart from lost sales opportunities, another huge cost to a sales organisation is staff turnover. It is often assumed that reps leave an organisation for more money and perks, but my experience in recruiting for roles in our organisation over 12 years has shown me this is rarely the case. People leave culture and toxic managers. Scratch under the surface of most reps on the hunt for a new role and you will hear horror story after horror story of bullying bosses, with an unethical focus.
Side note: If you’re worried you have hired or may be a leadership bully, Martin G Moore recently ran an excellent No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast that explains the difference between strong and tough leadership way better than I could in: “What Is Strong Leadership? Taking People Where They Ought To Be.”
Harvard Business Review provides great insights to the other side of this and poses the question “Why Employees Stay.” Vincent S. Flowers and Charles L. Hughes state that people that stay often have managers that live by the value system “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This can be linked to a workplace culture that psychologically nurtures the sales rep, while simultaneously looking after the customers (AKA consultative selling).
By providing a culture focussed on making a genuinely positive difference to the businesses, careers and lives of their customers, reps will feel nurtured and will have a strong sense of purpose. Ultimately this will keep them one step further away from the lure of the open job market.
Business culture is key to making and saving money
The key is to build the entire business culture on the foundation of truly helping customers. When the focus is on the long-term goal of genuine benefits for both the customer and the organisation, the reputation of the sales organisation can only flourish. This focus on tomorrow will lead to more referrals, a team of ethical, loyal reps that enjoy the sales culture and the numbers should take care of themselves.
Personally, having worked and learned in sales in a number of organisations, the training that had the biggest impact on my career was entrenched in the consultative process. The reps that genuinely focussed on learning with me in each session, re-evaluated their communication processes and then embodied the consultative style, have gone on to great things within and after their tenures in that role.
I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed every role where I could truly use the consultative selling process to genuinely benefit my customers. I have no doubt that consultative selling benefits all parties.
References:
87% of Your Sales Training is Forgotten. Here’s How You Fix it. – Salesloft
Why Consultative Selling Fails (forbes.com)
