Consultative Selling

Meeting the Needs of Your Potential Client
(Also known as Solution Selling and Relationship Selling)

Sell benefits, not features.

© iStockphoto/paci77

Have you ever experienced the "hard sell"?

The salesperson smiles insincerely at you, and then launches into his pitch. He lists the features and benefits of his product, and explains why it's so much better than other products on the market.

He shows little interest in you or what you want, and he doesn't listen when you try to break in. You can't wait to end the conversation!

So, where did he go wrong?

Instead of trying to force you to his will, he should have asked questions and tailored a solution to your needs. In short, he should have used "consultative selling." With this approach, your meeting could have been very different, and would probably have had a better result.

Whether selling is a major or minor part of your role, the good news is that it's easy to learn and apply consultative selling. In this article, we'll look at the consultative selling process, and we'll discuss how you can develop the skills you need at each stage.

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