When selling products and services, consultative conversations are essential. However, this approach requires patience and regular follow-up. In addition to being a great way to get to know a prospective customer, consultative selling can help you build rapport and trust with your customers. Here are a few tips for implementing a consultative sales approach:
Research before a sales call
Researching your prospects before making a sales call is an important step in selling. Doing this can help you gain their trust and adapt your approach as the customer’s needs change. It can also help you uncover sales opportunities. There are many ways to research your prospect before making a sales call, such as researching their demographics, their company’s advertising strategy, and their current buying situation.
Using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to research prospects can help you build rapport and connection with them. You can see what kind of news they’re talking about and what trigger events are happening in their field. LinkedIn can also learn about a prospect’s company or industry.
Open-ended questions
Open-ended questions in consultative conversations are important to the sales process because they allow your prospect to discuss their needs and feelings. These questions also help you understand your prospect’s mindset and how they make decisions. By asking these questions, you’ll build relationships with your prospects and make closing sales easier.
Open-ended questions are also powerful because they lead to insight. By asking a prospect questions about their needs, concerns, and opinions, you’ll gain a wealth of information that can help you craft a better product and sell to the right customer. In addition, this information will help you better prepare your outreach and counter objections and challenges your target group may face.
Getting to the root of a prospect’s problem
When using a consultative selling style, listening actively to the prospect’s needs and concerns is important. This will allow you to better target your solutions and build a meaningful relationship. For example, during a consultative conversation, you should identify the prospect’s pain points and formulate a solution to solve their problem.
The first question you should ask when a prospect expresses concern is, “tell me more.” The goal is to get to know the problem better, allowing you to engage the prospect in a deeper discussion. Understanding how these two parts work together is key to developing great consultative selling skills. To get started, you can create a list of common problems your prospect faces.
Building trust
Whether you are selling a product or service, building trust is essential for the success of your business. The best way to establish trust is through in-person interactions. During your conversations with prospects, you should share positive outcomes, highlight important learnings, and remind prospects to contact you for more information when needed. In B2C sales, you should also be honest about your industry and share relevant information to help the buyer make an informed decision. Lastly, be consistent and reliable.
