Advantages of Consultative Selling

Consultative selling

“Great selling is not selling to the customer, but to make the customer buy”

Business is all about “selling a product or service which provides a solution to the customer's pain point for a price which is profitable to the seller.”
In the pre-internet era the customers were dependent on the sales or technical persons to provide them solution and it was much easier for the sales guys with excellent product and tech knowledge to earn respect, reputation and orders .
The sales people who were able to offer better solutions to customers by understanding their needs better had an edge over ordinary sales persons. solution selling has become so popular, that most of the business and sales strategies are based on that.

Thanks to the internet era, customers started using search engines to get ideas about how to solve their problem. Sometimes the customer is more informed than the sales person depending upon the time they spend on their research.
So there was a pressing need to find something better, where the customer could be engaged and the sales persons could earn the due respect.

The Marketing fraternity reinvented a technique which was spoken about almost half a century ago.

 
Yes. 

Consultative marketing is a word(technique) which was coined around 50 years back in the book Consultative Selling by Mack Hanan, published in 1970.

Consultative selling no doubt provides solutions to the customer's problem, but it is far from solution selling.

 
It is not just deep probing or deep questioning that alone will lead to consultative selling.

 
The customer has to be made to drop guard to a sales person in consultative selling. 

 This will happen only when the customer has full faith in the person with whom he is discussing.

 
It is not necessary that the faith is built only with existing or known suppliers. 

The same can happen even with some one known for a short while. 

After all, the perception of the customer that the person can offer him the solution to the problem in hand , and a opinion that the person is trust worthy will make the customer open out.


Consultative selling happens if

• The customer has a real need and is willing to discuss
  
• The customer feels that the person with whom they are discussing is an expert in the subject and is capable of providing the solution
  
• The customer feels that person with whom they are discussing is trust worthy
  

On the part of the sales person

• The customer should be chosen after a lot of study – Willing and capable
  
• Should be able to identify opportunities for consultative selling - noticing it is very critical.
  
• He/She should have the knowledge and expertise to handling such a case
  
• Should be willing to spend time and effort to find a solution to the customer
  
• Should be sincere in providing solution to the customer – sometimes it may turn out that the product or solution being offered by the sales person may not be suitable for the customer. In that case, even when there is no sales taking place, the sales person should be willing to act in the interest of the customer.
  
• Offer real value to the customer through knowledge sharing
  
• Though aware of all the information, should avoid the temptation to exploit the customer, and act only in the interest of the customer's business.
  

It is a great way to improve sales which cannot be achieved through conventional selling methods.

Consultative sales process also connects the seller with the buyer and creates a bondage (which otherwise is rare) resulting in better business.


One of the greatest advantages of consultative selling is possible elimination of competition.

The consultative selling process brings the customer closer to the sales person and connects them emotionally.

The subtle fact is that buying decisions are based on emotions which is well supported by Psychologists and Neurologists.

"The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions."- Donald Calne (1936 - ), Canadian Neurologist.

It is not about the product, features, or the service, but it is the matter of results.

In essence, Consultative selling Should be an experience for the customer, where he feels more informed, involved, in control and satisfied with the process of decision making at the same time. 

 This helps the sales person to sell with respect, and helps to build a long lasting relationship.