The art of selling has come a long way since the days of Death of a Salesman. If your company has been losing sales, whether it's because of the economic climate or other factors, it might be time to consider a new way of doing things. Forget the sales pitch – it's long dead. Just as inbound marketing has shifted focus from promotion to value-added content, the focus in sales has moved from the hard-sell approach to a more customer-oriented approach.
Consultative Selling
This methodology is all about the customer's experience when interacting with you. It's about giving your prospect value in exchange for his time (and, ultimately, his money). You need to focus on his needs and how you can help him find solutions. It's not about selling your merchandise! Often, solutions may not include purchasing your products. But after building a relationship of this sort with the prospect, you're likely to be his first choice when he is ready to buy the items you offer.
The consultative selling methodology requires you to:
- Research: Use intelligence gathered during the lead acquisition process, information gleaned from news sources, the prospect's website and social media profiles.
- Ask: Questions give the prospect a chance to tell you his goals, challenges and timelines. It's useful to determine the budget available and whether the person you are speaking with has the authority to spend it. Listen carefully to the answers and try to read between the lines.
- Build credibility: Show that you understand your prospect's company and industry by demonstrating functional knowledge of the issues.
You'll need to change your mindset to apply a consultative sales approach. Create an honest, open and two-way conversation with your sales lead to discover how your company can help resolve the obstacles he faces. To win his confidence, you may have to make recommendations during the lead nurturing process that have nothing to do with selling him your offering.
Listen More, Talk Less
People who sell for a living are known to be talkers – to the extent that most prospects shudder at the thought of having to engage in conversation with them. In fact, Forbes says talking too much is one of the biggest blunders that salespeople make. You can break the mold by listening more and talking less. Dig deep to discover the real challenges a prospect is facing. Don't assume that the first issue he mentions is the one you need to resolve. In many cases, the first issue is the most superficial one.
To find out what the real "pain points" are, ask open-ended questions that begin with why, what, where, when and how. This will enable you to drill down slowly and steadily to the root of the problem. At that point, you can deliver your recommendation knowing that you're addressing the real issue.
Speaking of Pain Points...
Once you understand the pain points, you can align your offer to meet those needs. Consider what motivates your target audience to buy. This is usually one of three things:
- The threat of incurring losses as a result of a challenge or problem
- Concern that a solution isn't immediately clear and things are getting worse
- Seeing an opportunity that will improve the situation for the future
The first two are stronger motivators because there’s more urgency attached to them, while the third is "pie in the sky" or wishful thinking. Build your offer around the need by linking your benefits to the motivator. For example, if the issue is the threat of losing money because of a problem, craft your offer around the financial benefits of purchasing the product.
Educate Your Buyers
One of the tenets of inbound marketing is the establishment of thought leadership. It's the art of building enough credibility to be considered a subject matter expert in your field, and as such you're in a position to educate customers.
Once you're known for your expertise, educating your buyers is a great way to put your knowledge to good use. It enables you to develop business relationships based on trust that help your prospects to make informed buying decisions.
Identify what makes your product or service the best available and present those attributes as part of the education process. This will give you a competitive edge without the need to compare your offer to competitors or force a sale.
Employ Value-Added Selling
Just like quality content, the customer-oriented approach has to provide value. Particularly when you're competing against suppliers who cut costs at every opportunity, you have a choice to do the same or to give more for your price. By highlighting the benefits of using your product or service over the features, you can increase the value to the prospect and differentiate your company from competitors who want to just make the sale.
The New Dawn of Sales
It's a new dawn and a new day, with a new way of closing sales. By building your credibility, you gain your customer's respect. Build relationships by educating your prospect and engaging with the needs of his business. Differentiate your company from its competitors by providing additional value in the form of recommendations for resolving the prospect's problems, not just selling him a product or service. By doing so, you’ll be able to see the difference in your sales results.
* Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
