Consultative Selling:
Last year I went to the dentist for my regular exam. The first thing they did was x-ray all my teeth. Then the dental assistant came in and checked something in my mouth. Then the dentist came in.
He was a pleasant guy and explained to me what he was going to do. He first looked at my x-rays and made some notes on the chart. Then he asked me to open my mouth and he examined all my teeth. Then he made some more notes on the chart.
After that examination he went over his findings and recommendations with me. He showed me the tooth on my x-ray he said needed a crown. He also explained the problems that could develop if I didn’t get a crown. He went over the advantages of a crown and the types of crowns I could choose from.
Based on his findings and recommendations I agreed to get a crown.
As I was leaving his office that day I thought, “Wow, what an effective consultative selling approach that dentist has. I didn’t even feel I was being sold a product.”
Consultative selling example II:
About two years ago my wife and I made an appointment with a certified financial planner. He asked us to fax him certain information before the appointment. And he asked us to bring other information with us to the appointment.
When we arrive at his office he first asked us a series of questions about our financial situation based on the material we faxed him. He also asked us specific questions about our financial goals.
After gathering all the facts from the material we gave him and the questions he asked us he went over his recommendations for us. He also explained why he was recommending those actions and the risks of not taking action and the benefits of taking action. We agreed with most of his recommendations and implemented several of them.
Those are two examples of the power of consultative selling. They both were selling products or ideas and I was their prospect that had a choice to buy or not.
I bought in both situations because I didn’t feel I was being sold I felt I was being helped. The common selling skills both sales professionals used was effective fact finding first to identify my needs and wants. Then they gave me a custom designed sales presentation tailored to my specific situation.
Your consultative selling action item:
Sharpen your fact finding skills related to your product and really help your prospects instead of just selling them. Then watch your repeat and referral business skyrocket.
Source by David Nassief
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