Sales "Cluelessness" Is Still Rampant in Consultative Selling
Gaining commitment is difficult especially for those engaged in consultative selling. These folks include insurance agents; financial advisors; realtors; attorneys; physicians; accountants; mortgage brokers; executive coaches; physicians; business coaches or any others who offer some type of professional services. Yet, many of these small business owners to independent contractors continue to demonstrate shallow to deep levels of being clueless. Let me explain.
First, can we have agreement that selling requires emotions as the old expression “goes no one wants to be sold, but everyone loves to buy?”
Second, can we have agreement that emotional bond is between the potential customer, client or patient (a.k.a. prospect) and the person offering the services?
Third, can we have agreement that the goal is to remove all barriers between the potential buyer and the seller?
So why would any reasonable person place an obstacle within this budding and growing forward relationship? #Sales Coaching Tip: Relationship selling involves being personally connected to your potential customer.
Yet every day, hundreds of sales professionals do just this. They:
- have their administrative assistants schedule meetings
- Send ineffective emails
- Make doing business with them very difficult such as extensive and intrusive credit applications
- Fail to return phone calls or emails
All of these are obstacle actions keeping the salespersons or the small business owners from their goals to increase sales.
What is interesting to note that many of these obstacles have been given to these salespersons from some noted expert. For example, a financial advisor I met with has his administrative assistant make appointments from the referrals he gets. His home office expert suggested this as a best practice. The rationale was to allow the financial advisor additional time in meeting and securing referrals.
Now think about this for just a minute. Your name is referred to someone and instead of speaking directly to the person who received your name, you speak to a qualified administrative assistant. Again, the referral presumes there are two relationships:
- Between the person providing the referral and you
- Between the actual referral and the referring party
Nowhere in that mix is your administrative assistant!
I am all in favor of using your production time to the best of your ability, but doing a bait and switch by bringing your assistant or placing other obstacles into the mix is just plain stupid.
One barrier that has not been discussed is what between the ears of the small business person, the sales professional or even the C Level or C Suite executive and that is YOU. As the old expression goes, “I met the enemy and he is me.” Until as Dr. Robert Cooper states in his book Get Out of Your Own Way, you actually get out of your own way, then you will be fighting yourself each day. This is truly a waste of your limited resources of time, energy, money and emotions.
If you wish to increase sales within your consultative practice be you an insurance agent, realtor, mortgage broker, accountant, lawyer, health care provider, professional services consultant, executive or business coach, then invest some time to determine what barriers you have built between you and your potential customers. Then remove them at once and watch not only your revenue increase but your own feelings of personal and professional success.
Get Free sales skills assessment by Results Sales Coach Leanne Hoagland-Smith who helps with sales coaching, leadership to sales management development.
Want to increase sales? Consider this sales book, Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, the Keys to Unlocking Sales Success.
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