Most executives recognize a need for their sales team to act as consultants and sell “solutions.” But many CEOs would be shocked at how poorly their sales teams execute on the strategy of consultative selling. I recently had a conversation about this with the director of purchasing at one of my client companies who told me: “I can always tell when a rep has been through sales training, because instead of launching in to a pitch, they launch into a list of questions.” Too often, sales teams trying to “do” consultative selling don’t move beyond the rudimentary application of solution-sales principles: “Get the team to ask questions, and then match our capabilities to what the client has said.” So the sales force sits down and makes a list of questions designed to extract information from their prospective clients, in a kind of interrogation. I’ve sat through many sales calls like this, and trust me it isn’t pretty.
Sales Reps, Stop Asking Leading Questions
Clumsy attempts at consultative selling will backfire.
March 17, 2017
Summary.
A consultative approach to sales has become all the rage — but done poorly, it can seriously backfire. Effective sales is not about grilling the buyer, but rather, engaging in a genuine give-and-take to explore the client’s priorities, examine the business’s capabilities, and evaluate whether there may be a good fit between the two. In this piece, the author shares three common pitfalls to avoid when attempting consultative sales: checklist-style questioning, asking leading questions, and negative conversational behaviors.
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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Marketing Essentials. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Learn how to communicate with your customers—strategically.