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Using Consultative Sales Techniques to Win Business Faster
Guest articles > Using Consultative Sales Techniques to Win Business Faster
by: Steve Eungblut
The shift of focus from product selling to solution selling has brought huge benefits and huge challenges to selling organisations over the past 10 years. The benefits include higher-value sales, higher customer satisfaction, and longer-term supplier-customer relationships. However, the challenges this shift has brought include:
Analysis of Causes of Failure to Close a High Margin Sale: In the hundreds of case studies we have reviewed, the reasons why sales individuals and sales teams fail to close on time (in relation to expectations of forecasts) come from right across the range of the sales opportunity qualification matrix, including:
Further Analysis: In observed sales calls and role-play simulations (using real case examples), we also found that sales professionals typically:
Using a Consultative Selling Approach: On the other hand, our research demonstrates that skilled consultative sales people were able to overcome the aforementioned limitations and were therefore able to proactively sell their solutions effectively and efficiently AND were able to close their deals in line with their forecasts. We found that a professional consultative selling approach worked in any industry and worked just as well in the business-to-business world AND for companies selling to high-value personal clients in almost any scenario. Hundreds of buyers have told us that they hate 'Feature, Advantage, Benefit' (FAB) selling. It's what gets a sales person a bad name. Effective selling in today's world (of far more discerning buyers) has to start with the shaping of the client's needs and has to drive the need and the urgency by using:
Conclusion: It is a myth that consultative selling is a sales technique that is only appropriate for the longer term or complex-solution selling environment. Wherever a company aims to sell a bundled solution (or set of services), consultative selling works - regardless of an individual's experience or the industry they are selling to. Recommended Solution: Sales people and companies need an efficient and effective methodology for consultative selling that enables them to:
Steve is the founder and managing director of Sterling Chase Associates. In his corporate sales career, he became one of the leading sales practitioners and sales leaders in Europe, with over 20 years experience in consultative selling and sales leadership. He has delivered success for individuals, teams and organizations around the world. Steve has won numerous awards for his sales and leadership achievements. He is a Harvard Business School alumni, and has developed award-winning sales-force transformation tools and selling techniques that deliver a sustained shift in sales performance for organizations of all sizes and all industries. Visit his website at the Sterling Chase homepage or drop him an email at eungblut@sterlingchase.com. Contributor: Steve Eungblut Published here on: 20-Feb-11 Classification: Sales Website: http://www.sterlingchase.com/
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