the foundation of consultative selling is to gain a holistic understanding of your customer’s needs, objectives, and desired outcomes. To do this, you have to ask probing questions, listen, and learn so that you can advise them to your best ability on how they can achieve their goals. Here are five principles to keep in mind:
1. Be curious about their industry
actively seek information about your customer’s industry to learn about trends, developments, and challenges they’re facing. Remember, consultative selling is about understanding customer needs, then finding a way to remedy them. That means you need to immerse yourself in their world. Here are some ways to get started:
ai-powered insights: if your crm has ai integration, use it to mine sales communications for relevant information, like recurring pain points or industry challenges.
Customer research: read industry newsletters, read job postings, and watch webinars. All of these can give you a look at what your customers care about.
Social media: follow industry-specific influencers on social media and listen to their perspectives. You can find influencers with a quick google search (e.g. “sales influencers”), then see who they follow and start building your network.
2. Practice active listening
active listening is when you really hear and absorb what your buyer says, reading between the lines and preparing to ask follow-up questions. You’re not just passively hearing them speak, you’re engaged. Give them enough time to share their thoughts, but be ready to jump in, follow up, and learn more. As a consultative seller, you’ll need to be able to think on your feet, so don’t rely too heavily on a script. Your goal is to paint a picture of their problem to find a solution that works.
This skill is essential for consultative sellers. When done well, you validate your customers’ feelings and uncover the deeper issues. In my experience, i’ve found that people tend to buy based on emotions. I ask open-ended questions that let the customer’s emotions naturally come into the conversation. For example, if they talk about a challenge they’re facing with frustration, ask about their experience to find out why they’re feeling stuck. What’s the roadblock? How is it impacting their business? What would they like to see improve? When you dig deep, you might uncover the real root of their problem. Then, you can work together on a solution that fits.