BusinessDictionary.com Definition:

Personal selling in which a salesperson plays the role of a consultant. He or she first assists the buyer in identifying his or her needs, and then suggesting products that satisfy those needs.

© Nyul | Dreamstime.com

In his book, Spin Selling, Neil Rackham came to an interesting and somewhat unexpected conclusion. After observing thousands of sales calls he found that the best salespeople were not necessarily the best talkers, they were the best listeners. Rackham found that the best salespeople had a higher listen-to-talk ratio and they used the classic questions, who, what, how, when and where to keep the customer talking. However, asking why can make customers feel defensive and they may not want to answer the question. You may want to reformulate what they said or ask closed questions like: “Do you mean that you prefer X or Y?” or, “Is it true your contract is up for renewal?”

Many sales reps will remember sales training programs based on the features and benefits of a product. The talker goes through the list of features and benefits trying to look for a response from the buyer. In some cases this tactic can be based on pride in their product or the salesperson is trying to impress the customer. Connecting the features to the benefits and the benefits to the customer’s product is on many occasions left to the buyer.

The initial focus in consultative selling is to understand the needs, the application and the buying motives of the customer. Given that customers value things differently, this approach may require some product variety that could provide some advantage on the sales side. This product variety is a way of life for the independent sales representative who is experienced in dealing with synergistic lines of products with multiple technical capabilities that are not discernible to the buyer. This is one of the primary reasons why an independent sales representative can be more effective than a direct salesperson. The independent sales representative will also quite probably have a working relationship with the customer on one of their other lines and have almost instant access to engineers and buyers involved in the program.

While consultative selling can help you get an order, it can also help with problems during the life of an order. You (the sales rep) often have to work with both the principal and the customer to find amicable solutions to late deliveries, design, quality and late payment problems. Something as simple as spreadsheets to track deliveries or returned goods can be effective tools to keep both the principal and the customer on the same page.

In a reverse manner, the sales representative can use consultative selling to convince your principals to quote on and eventually accept an order for a project or product that may be somewhat out of their product line or comfort zone. A good understanding of the customer’s project or product is critical. The principal’s application data sheet , if available, is a great tool that usually provides all the questions you need to ask the customer for a complete description of the customer’s needs. It also provides the vital information to the principal to make an intelligent quotation.

If you practice consultative selling, listening to your customer and principal, you will become a vital partner for both.