How To Go From Salesperson To Sales Consultant

You will be aware of the changing nature of sales, driven by the ever-evolving requirements of businesses and their decision-makers.

The old way of selling (cold-call, qualify, present, resolve, close) is being superseded by the consultative and insightful approach of analysing needs and wants before creating options for a successful future for businesses.

This means we have to work on being aware of the overall needs and requirements of clients.

The concentration of skills has changed considerably, and I have noted below just seven areas that you should focus on to make the transition from salesperson to having a consultancy mindset.

It should be easy to remember, as the ideas make up the word ‘Consult’.

Follow this acronym:

Curiosity

This is the mindset that we need to develop.

When a buyer makes a decision, the consultant is curious to comprehend the real reasons behind that choice.

Is it the best choice for the buyer, and why? Would a different choice produce better results?

Becoming curious aids us in helping the buyer.

Ownership

This means taking specific ownership of results, and personal responsibility for actions that need to be made.

A true consultant is less likely to blame things outside their control for failure.

They ‘own’ results and know what needs to be done.

kNowledge

OK, excuse the slight change to the English language here, but knowledge is too important to be left out!

Knowledge of what? Your products, obviously.

But also, knowledge of the buyer’s criteria they will use to make decisions, knowledge of competitors’ offers and knowledge of the impacts your solutions will have the buyer’s business is also vital to have.

Strategic Thinking

The ability to think strategically through the mass of information available today to achieve results is key to differentiating yourself and creating opportunities for growth.

Uniqueness

This is the ability to see there are no two customers alike, no two products alike, no two projects alike, and no two solutions alike.

This means a consultant is able to see the uniqueness in every situation and doesn’t offer a cookie-cutter approach to solutions.

Learning and Growing

The consultant recognises there are always opportunities to learn and grow.

Paying attention to why they succeed is just as vital as why they fail.

Continual growth and learning is the ideal mindset to have to achieve success.

Thought-Leadership

The consultant recognises that you gain most by being a real help to people in business.

By being and information conduit, you create a need for your services in many different areas.

A thought-leader creates opportunities to expand a company’s knowledge, awareness, abilities and experiences.

As you become indispensable to a company through sharing ideas, concepts and future-oriented conceptions, you increase your value to them and build relationships throughout their business.

These seven ideas will certainly help you develop the right mindset and be able to offer a much better ‘consultancy’ process to all your customers.

If you’re ever looking for some Sales Training then please check out our Sales Training Courses.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training