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In the business development / sales world, an abundance of individuals toss the all too commonly used phrase "consultative selling" around as if it were a slang word simply referring to "people who can produce." Frequently, you hear sales managers bark phrases such as, "We want a sales representative with a consultative approach," or "Our sales team has a consultative selling motto." Sadly, in a large amount companies, slang is what the term remains both currently and in the foreseeable future. That is, until it is changes.

When you take a look deeper and attempt to solve the aforementioned slang to definition issue, you will soon find that people who know how to implement and execute a consultative selling technique with proper closing strategies are easier to locate and change the current status of an office. Through the below explanations, examples and descriptions, we can uncover as to what true consultative selling is and look beyond the rudimentary description as the "opposite of an overly aggressive sales approach."

Consultative Selling Is Not The "Sweet Talk"

Some people are natural salesmen and saleswomen. It is in my strong opinion that you can only teach some sales and the aforementioned are easiest to mold. However, the biggest hindrance that prevents these "naturals" from becoming great is that they rely on their natural gift of gab. It’s almost as if a youth football coach sees a youngster with a great arm, but has to tweak his grip on the ball.

While the inherent ability to persuade propels them above many others in the office, they never really get the job done. The smooth talkers are like robots. As soon as somebody calls, they automatically switch on and give a nicely flowing, intelligently sounding pitch. Their pitch is so down that they cannot vary or have agility when given objections. They rely on average.

This is not consultative selling. It is often considered to be, but is far from it. Throughout the initial conversation with a new client, the consultative sales expert should be asking more questions and speaking less.

Then, once the prospect is done conveying their needs, the consultative sales expert leverages those needs to show off his or her expertise and solves the client’s problem nearly all of the time. Robots, as good as they are, are yet to replace human beings and somebody who knows how to actually sell can run laps around them.

Consultative Selling is About Research and More Research

At this point, basic knowledge of consultative selling is set, thus allowing us to graduate from our first definition of "opposite of an overly aggressive sales approach." Going forward, let’s define consultative selling as the ability to uncover a client’s problem(s), then be able to come up with intelligent, effective and creative solutions to help the client and generate revenue for the company. Well, it is quite hard to come up with effective solutions unless you know what the client does. Agree?

Conversely, it is very hard for the sales professional to do research on every firm as they never know who will call in, but if done "on the fly," the consultative seller will ask the right questions and learn the ins and outs of that particular company. Just like in life, not everything in sales is perfect, but this is where the inherent sales skills and intelligence give the sales professional enough backup until full clarity is reached.

However, the best salesmen and saleswomen, prior to throwing out quotes or going into their pitch, will ask the right questions to learn about the industry. Without this knowledge, a true consultative sales call and, subsequent sales close cannot be effectively implemented on a frequent basis.

On the flip side, if the sales representative is making outbound calls, to be effective and really adhere to the rules of consultative selling, that individual is going to have to do hours of research. Consultative selling experts understand and embrace that, more often than a sales person would think, people do not buy on price. Instead, they buy on expertise. The best sales professionals are the ones that implement consultative selling techniques, and consultative selling techniques can only be implemented after hours of company research.

Therefore, the consultative seller, instead of making complete cold calls to the masses, hones in on certain targets, leverages their knowledge and expertise, establishes the right relationships and closes the deals that matter in the long run. No true consultative selling expert goes for the quick sale. They go for the relationship.