Why Doesn't "Salesy" Sales Training For Consultants Work?
Being salesy is being forceful as to why somebody must buy a product from you. This rarely succeeds because the approach is off-putting to the individual receiving the message and, in most situations, affects the consultant’s personal brand as well as the company’s brand. One more thing, you need to put your ego aside while selling something to customers.
Being pushy goes against our personal values, which are the unspoken principles that govern how we live and act. People are most productive and successful when they live and behave in accordance with their personal principles, which is why being “salesy” does not work for consultants or anybody else for that matter.
Consultants are not salespeople, they are experts in their industry, so any sales training should be tailored to reflect and use that knowledge.
Sales training for consultants
We are frequently asked to teach new selling strategies to what we refer to as non-selling professionals. These are persons who work in a company where sales aren’t their primary role. They could be consultants, but they could also be lawyers or engineers. They generally swear that they will never be a salesman when we first see them. Yet, humility is one of the characteristics that indicate that they may be a fantastic salesperson.
Sadly, the public’s view of a salesperson is largely unfavorable, and adjectives used to describe a salesperson include terms like a liar, selfish and annoying. A large percentage of salespeople, however, do not do this. Nevertheless, we sometimes bear the consequences for those who walked before us, and sadly, few salespeople are like this. But, when you think about it, such characteristics are not exactly a recipe for success.
Sessions for sales training for consultants
This training is often offered in one or two days seminars. This can work, but in our experience, when consultants are told that they need training, they become defensive. Consultants are almost always mature adults who have had a bad experience with previous sales training programs.
The easiest approach to avoid this is to choose sales training for consultants that is tailored to their needs and includes content that promotes their abilities and experience. The trainer must have experience educating a wide range of non-selling professionals and be able to handle the audience’s unique learning styles and demands.
Running seminars where the consultants get to decide what they think will help them the most can be as fruitful. They will feel more empowered since they have chosen the information, which will be more focused and relevant by definition.
The main disadvantage is that it necessitates the use of an experienced trainer who knows the answers to the consultant’s sales issues off by heart and can communicate them without the use of presentation slides. If the trainer has to interrupt the class to consult the book or PowerPoint deck to answer, they will lose all trustworthiness.
To ensure that these seminars are more than just a talking shop and have a genuine impact on the consultants and the organization, they must have clear outcomes with action plans.
Tips for sales training for consultants
The majority of people believe that selling is all about closing deals and pressuring individuals to make decisions they don’t want to make. In reality, the most effective salespeople avoid doing this since they understand it doesn’t help and, in many cases, it undermines whatever respect or connection they have with their clients.
Conventional sales training for consultants will almost always fail since the approaches used are incompatible with the consultant’s values and beliefs. It will be a waste of time, money, and energy for everyone, no matter how skilled the trainer is unless the content is based on behaviors that are consistent with the salesperson’s views and values. However, the strategy will succeed if the training is designed to establish the consultants as valued advisers to their customers, and the sales efforts are complemented with projecting them as sector opinion-makers.
The following sales tactics can help consultants and non-selling professionals understand that professional selling is about creating trust and connection rather than closing deals.
More consultants should work on creating TRUST in order to sell more services
- T for Time
Set goals and manage your time so that you may be effective rather than busy. Respect your prospect’s time by arriving on time for meetings and preparing ahead of time to get the most out of them. Spend time with clients in order to assist them. Concentrate your efforts on your most promising clients.
- R for Reliability
When you return to your workplace, many prospects are lost. Within one day, reply to every email, think ahead, and take responsibility for resolving the issues.
- U for Unselfishness
Instead of trying to sell, try to help. Have discussions rather than sales pitches. Recognize when something is not right and walk away. Never try to force a transaction. Make recommendations and pass on referrals.
- S for Soundness
Grow as a specialist in your field. If you are the go-to person in your industry, folks will connect others to you. Make a personal growth plan for yourself and learn everything you can about yourself, your clients, and your client’s clients. Mentoring, coaching, and assisting others are all good things to do.
- T for Truthfulness
Talk to your family, friends, coworkers, and customers about the challenging topics. Losing a few battles and sales will help you win the war. Develop your integrity, self-respect, and self-confidence. Be genuine and honest with yourself.
These sales tips and tricks are not flashy, and they won’t improve your life overnight, but they do work; when taken together, these five categories create the foundation of TRUST. It is possible to sell without trust, but it is incredibly difficult and will undoubtedly hinder your performance.
Risk is the polar opposite of trust in business, and every customer, CEO, and the company will pay more for a solution that is seen to reduce the risk. Though many of our clients have requested to assist them to implant these selling skills throughout their firm, not simply sales, building and maintaining TRUST is the basis of sales mastery.
Professional services sales training
Buyers rarely buy anything from a salesman they don’t like or trust in business to business, more so than in business to consumers. There are several extenuating circumstances, such as when the item has a successful reputation. Offering Microsoft professional assistance, for instance, does not necessitate the salesperson of the year. Since the brand’s influence has already sold most consumers before they even arrive at the sales call. Microsoft is the product, not the consultant.
Consultants who do not represent a major brand must work harder to close the deal. In many circumstances, consultants would be more productive if they stopped trying to sell and instead focused all of their efforts on assisting the client.
A consultative sales approach is recommended, which concentrates the sales conversation around five key questions.
- What are the evident indications of trouble at your company?
Prospects are better at identifying symptoms than experts, but it is the expert’s job to ask questions and go further.
- What is the basis of the issue?
To discover the fundamental reasons for the problems, the consultant should employ a root cause analysis approach.
- What is the issue’s influence on the organization?
These inquiries should focus on how the issue impedes growth, earnings or harms the brand in any manner.
- What are the financial implications?
To guarantee that the prospect will receive a return of investment, the consultant and the client must conduct a simple cost-benefit analysis.
- What are the personal implications?
Finally, the consultant must find any relevant personal objectives or drivers for the prospect.
Frequently, merely asking these questions allows the consultant to position themselves as an expert while also establishing rapport and credibility with the clients.