How to Recession-Proof Sales with Consultative Selling - Moving into Consultative Sales
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"Consultative selling is about the issues that your customers and
prospects have," says Kendra Lee, a consultant, trainer and author
specializing in the art of consultative selling. "Sometimes you may not
even make a recommendation that you'll ever generate any revenue off of. But
your contacts are coming to you because they just want to talk. You are treated
like a trusted adviser."
Lee says when training companies on consultative sales she used to tell them to
expect a longer sales cycle. But she doesn't anymore.
"It actually doesn't take longer because what happens is they want to work
with you," says Lee. "They want to work with you because they feel
like you are on their side."
Lee says solution providers looking to start implementing a more consultative
approach to sales can start by talking to clients about how they are surviving
in the current economy.
"There's a company that desperately needs our services, but they have no
money," says Lee, talking about her own consulting business. "Their
line of credit was just cut in half. So I asked how they were handling it. It
had nothing to do with helping to sell. I know if I help him now something will
happen. It's the old saying, what goes around comes around. That's consultative
selling."
Lee helped Heartland Technology Solutions design a consultative sales training
program for its sales organization in 2008.
"I wanted our team to move towards a consultative approach," Larry
Hedin, vice president of sales and marketing at Heartland Technology Solutions,
told attendees during a
presentation at Ingram Micro's VTN event in April. "People were
selling and numbers were coming in, but I wondered, How quickly would that
change? Our training positioned us well to face the economic downturn that was
ahead of us."
That's also been the experience of Five Nines and Bock, who has noticed a change
in conversations with customers.
"CFOs are definitely more involved in conversations lately than they have
been before," Bock says. "In small and medium businesses the same
people [are] making decisions but they are being more careful about how they spend
their money."
A few of Five Nines' customers have gone out of business. And existing
customers are spending about 90 percent of what they've spent in the past. But
Five Nines' business is still on track to grow 33 percent year over year.
"The way we've positioned Five Nines has put us in a better position on
how to serve our customers," says Bock. "We help them keep things
aligned with their business objectives."
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