The Consultative Salesperson
Is the Consultative Salesperson Redundant?
In this day and age when so much selling is done over the internet is there a need for ‘face to face’ selling? In certain cases this is, indeed true.
However, you could have the best product and service in the world but without an expert, professional salesperson meeting your customers and understanding what problems they’re trying to solve, your sales will always under perform. In many industries face to face selling is not only important but it’s mandatory.
So what do these people look like and what are the characteristics they share? Before we cover this is best to define the purpose and objective of a salesperson;
The Purpose or a Salesperson;
is to help buyers solve their problems. This is the underlying reason for a sales call
The Objective of a Salesperson;
is to make a profit from the sale of the company’s products or services. The objective is measurable and achievable.
The above is particularly true of the consultative salesperson and the bigger the ticket price the more accurate it is!
In order to develop a problem solving attitude and help sell solutions, the salesperson needs to employ a consultative approach. The consultative salesperson sells a solution and needs to be;
- Interested in what the customer wants
- Ask the customer pertinent questions
- Most importantly understands the problem they are trying to solve by continually evaluating with the client their understanding of the problem or pain point
- Informs the customer about the solution’s tract record
- Demonstrates honesty and integrity
The method that needs to be employed depends on whether it’s a simple or a complex sale. This does not mean that the product is complex but that the process of selling is complex or simple. This table below outlines the characteristics of simple and complex sales.
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The characteristics needed for Complex and Simple sales are detailed in the table below
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