Consultative Based Sales and Marketing Helps Create Best Buying Experience in B2B

Feb. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Many people ask, “Do I really need to use consultative based sales and marketing with my product or service?”  Our response is to consider how customers discover their needs and evaluate your types of offerings.

Does the customer already understand how to use your products and services? Perhaps more important, is the ability to help solve business needs unique to your products and services.

An example may help using two extremes.  First, an office manager purchases a printer for the CEO. The needs are easily identified and a decision can be made quickly in terms of a buy-sell cycle. It can even be done on line without interacting with a person.

http://www.visiongroupmn.com/consultative-selling.htm

Second, a company is going to source a vendor for all their copy machines.  In this case, the buy-sell cycle will begin with a discovery phase to determine the business needs.  It is during the discovery phase where unique ways to satisfy needs are identified.

Identified needs can short list the potential vendors a buying committee/person will discuss with during the evaluation phase.  If an RFQ/RFP is then used to source a final vendor, the preferred vision of a solution, (which typically includes the preferred vendor), is within the specifications.

These examples help to indentify where to consider using consultative sales and marketing.  Those products where a discovery phase will help identify needs and build a better vision of a solution based on value.  It is the value portion which helps frame the final scope of supply around the needs which require the capabilities of your offering.

At this point, many of our clients say, “OK, I get it, we need consultative based sales people, what’s next”?

Let’s circle back to the beginning of the buy sell cycle.  If marketing messages are not focused on helping the customer identify and discover unknown ways of solving their needs, marketing may be out of alignment with sales.

http://www.visiongroupmn.com/sales-marketing-alignment.htm

Worst yet, a web site may actually encourage a feature rich conversation and help create RFP/RFQ’s any competitor can bid on. Not on developing and nurturing conversations based on business usage, needs and value.

To help avoid the common feature function wars in the buy sell cycle where nobody wins. Not the customer and not the vendor. We need sales and marketing focused on the customer and creating conversations around business usage and applications.

Consultative sales and marketing methods can help customers focus on discovering new ways to satisfy their needs based on value. Positioning your unique capabilities based on business usage and value in the customers mind as they develop a Vision of a Solution.

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About Vision Group: Our clients use consultative based sales and marketing aligned with how their customers buy. Focused on the shifting concerns of how individuals make buying decisions and their compelling business needs. This leads to the Best Buying Experience, the beginning of the Best Customer Experience.

http://www.visiongroupmn.com

Customers tell us we help train and educate their personnel on what their best do naturally. Using behaviorally correct skills during the buy sell cycle to connect and build trust. While using the power of story with visual messaging to help new and existing customers develop a Vision of a Solution based on value.

With our continued association with Mike Bosworth we are offering training programs and consulting designed to help develop personnel to become more effective at consultative based sales, marketing and prospecting.

http://www.mikebosworth.com