I had coffee this morning with Waheeda, a bright lady who organizes the global branding of a large bank's Internet presence. I was telling her about the sales calls mentioned in my earlier post about selling to small enterprises and WIFM. Waheeda thinks the sales people are trying to be customer focused, and want to respond to my needs, whatever they may be. She's right -- that's exactly what they are doing.
The problem is, the prospect has to be willing to engage in that kind of consultative selling process. And we all know what's coming next, don't we: I tell you what I'm doing, and then you tell me how you can help me with that. Sales people need to earn your way in to that conversation. And you earn your way in by adding something of value, however small it may be.
Other methods do work, of course. But you can dramatically ramp up the interest level of the people you are selling to if you offer them something of value at the start.
This is one reason that educational marketing works -- where a seminar event of some type is used as the enticement to bring a certain type of client into contact with your sales people. By offering something of value first, you establish your credentials for people, and you set up a situation where it seems only fair that they at least entertain your proposition. You can engage in some kind of consultative process because you have earned your way in by offering value before you try to extract value.
If you are fortunate enough to be the representative of a major brand, you can probably get an audience just by asking, because that brand carries some of the value for you. The sales reps of companies like IBM have a much easier time of it than the sales reps of ABC Computer Consulting, for example.
Research I have done for clients has demonstrated that individuals make a decision about whether they are willing to engage in a sales discussion. When they aren't ready, they take steps to avoid one, such as using the Internet to do research or phoning a call centre with a question. Consultative selling only works when the consultee is prepared to engage in the consultation.
