One
helpful skill for salespeople is to learn what they can about potential clients
without seeming to ask too many questions. You need to dig for the right information
but you don’t want to impose or appear uninformed. Consultative selling
training professionals outline a series of three steps to follow for the
details you need to prepare a persuasive proposal.
- Turn implied needs (general statements about problems or challenges) into specific evidence-based needs so you can understand the customer’s immediate situation and the value of helping them. For example, go from their complaint that “the system is too slow” to “how slow compared to what they want it to be.”
- Articulate, with the customer’s input, an understanding of the business impact of the problem. Exactly how does the slow system affect business results and priorities? In other words, what is the cost of the problem? And who cares most about solving it?
- Define the value of the solution with your client. What is the specific payoff of a solution to the organization, the team, and ultimately to the individual customer? And what has stopped them from solving it until now?
