In the past selling a product or service was consumed with the idea that effective selling was imbued with the idea that you had to thoroughly know your product and then convince the potential customer of their need for your product. Oftentimes sales people became enamored with the method of high pressure selling and companies or organizations resorted to contests and awards for the salespersons’ that achieved the highest sales levels without regard to customer satisfaction or needs. In recent times these tactics have been debunked in many organizations, being replaced by the concept of consultative selling.
The premise behind this concept has been the awakening of sales professionals to the thinking that for continued longer term success the needs of the customer along with the fit and benefits of a product to the customer are more important than the short term sales numbers. Learning your customers’ business and their needs for products and demonstrating to the customer how your product fulfills their needs has become a paramount idea for sales professionals. To be sure to achieve this level of service the sales professional must have full and complete knowledge about their product including the full capabilities and limitations of the product. Another important concept that must be incorporated into a company’s sales program is to realize that the customer is not ignorant and has a good knowledge of their business and the needs of their business, thus their ideas related to their product or service needs should not be discounted. You should never think that you know more about a customer’s business than they do as this is a recipe for conflict problems and ultimately customer dissatisfaction. A final piece to the concept of sales consultancy is to never lie or knowingly present false information to the customer to make a sale. Tell the customer the truth and if you do not know the answer to a customer question tell them you are not sure and that you will get them the correct information.Changing the way in which your company approaches sales will result in longer term success through it;s implementation.