How to become a consultant?
In my first job, I used to sell two or more competing products in any category [MS Office Vs Lotus Smartsuite, MS Exchange Vs Lotus Domino [notes], MS SQL Vs Oracle WG / Ent, Scala Vs Oracle Apps etc].
In such a scenario, I was more successful, when I probed deeper & then suggested a suitable solution than just quoting for the product the prospect asked for.
When I probed, I became a consultant & was treated differently. And I controlled the deal.
So, what questions should you ask:
- What makes you look for such a solution?
- Why are you having this need?
- What’s the problem?
- How are you solving it currently?
- Why would you go for product X?
- What are the other cheaper alternatives?
- Can you not live with the problem?
- What’s the cost of not solving the problem?
- How long do you think you can avoid solving the problem.
- Have you done your research on us?
And talk prospects out of the deal than into it. That way, your conversion rates will be much higher and you will be saving lot of time by qualifying the prospects. Those that qualify will have lots of respect for you and will close for sure.
Those that don’t qualify too will have respect for you and will get in touch with you in future.
Happy Selling!!
#happyselling #b2b #b2bsales #sales