Tag: consultative sales

Without a deep understanding of and a keen interest in business, you cannot be consultative. Developing business acumen, a fundamental competency for B2B success, not only lets you capably advise clients on their business decisions, but gives you…

Many people write about salespeople as if it was still 1978 when salespeople were more likely to use a high-pressure approach and when it was customary to straight pitch their prospective client. Most of what they write sets up a straw man that…

One of the critically important, yet neglected, concepts in sales is the idea of "creating a preference" to buy from you and your company. Not only do you need to create a desire to work with you, but you must also create a preference for your…

One of your primary responsibilities as a consultative salesperson is the use of a modern sales approach, one that provides your client with a higher resolution lens through which to view their business, their results, and their decisions. You…

You have a specific experience. Let's assume it is a negative experience. You have to communicate this experience, so you create or find a concept to allow you to explain it to someone else, while trying to make sense of it yourself. Here is an…

Recently, a post on LinkedIn proposed a scenario, with the author soliciting opinions as to how one would solve the challenge. The situation is pretty simple, and here is a summation: The salesperson works on a deal for months, and the client…

There is power in sharing an insight that provides your client with a new view of their business. A single idea is capable of sense-making where things are complex, complicated, and challenging to navigate. One of the defining criteria of a modern…

Why would you call on a prospective client to sell your products or services if you didn’t have a relatively well-formed theory about the problems and challenges they are almost certain to be experiencing?

How could you not know the primary…

Your craft is one that is difficult to master. It requires that you develop certain character traits and a complex array of skills. Your job title suggests you are a salesperson, but there are more people with the title than there are people who…

The idea that "sales is a numbers game" contains an absolute truth worth observing. The truth is that selling requires action or "activity" if you prefer. All things being equal, more activity is better than little—or no—activity. But activity…