Overview

Two days of practical advice and guidance on how to sell high-value or complex solutions to discerning and sophisticated customers, whether new or existing, more effectively.

Solution selling (also known as consultative or value selling) means selling the way your customer wants to buy, not how you want to sell. In practice, it is about creating compelling reasons to change.

In a transactional sale the customer knows the answer or solution without help from a salesperson, or is prepared to stay with what they have. Customer decision criteria are price and convenience and so customers resent time spent with (new) salespeople, because the salesperson adds little or nothing to what they have and steals time.

In a consultative or solution sale the customer doesn’t know the answer or solution (or cannot see the advantage of your solution) without help from a salesperson. The salesperson must take the role of an advisor, not just a ‘product promoter’. Customers demand expertise, advice and customisation during the sales process. Often customers insist on multiple meetings with salespeople and others to develop advantages that you can bring and reduce the perceived risk of changing. In this way the salesperson often adds significant extra value to the customer.

Training objectives

The overall objective of this course is to help improve your sales results, by increasing your sales professionalism and helping you adopt a more consultative and solution focused approach to developing both new and existing customers.

As a result of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the higher-level skills and strategies needed to sell value-based and differentiated business solutions
• Manage complex or high-value sales more proactively and accurately
• Create and deliver persuasive sales messages based on value and agreed business improvements and solutions
• Use advanced techniques to develop customer needs, value and decision-making criteria in depth
• Make an impressive and compelling final proposal

Audience

All business development consultants and sales staff.

Format

A highly interactive two-day course involving practical exercises, role play, case studies and, if possible, specific examples from your company. For maximum benefit, we recommend a one-day follow-up workshop to reinforce the learning, review the ‘Sales Playbook’ and keep the participants focused on using their newly-acquired skills.

Special features

The more advance access the trainer has to examples from your company, the more focused and beneficial will be the participants’ learning experience. This will also help in generating ideas for the ‘Sales Playbook’.

The expert trainer

To be announced.

Course outline

DAY ONE – Key principles, business planning and relationship management

1 Key principles

• Introduction and review of pre-course work
• Initial role play
• The four principles of solution selling
• How solution selling differs from ‘transactional’ or ‘relationship-based’ selling
• The stages of the customer’s buying cycle

2 Relationships

• How to build and manage key relationships within an account
• Qualifying and managing key influencers accurately
• Approaching and developing new contracts strategically
• Utilising CRM tools and networking sites

3 Prospecting skills in a solution sale

• Strategic prospecting
• How to establish your competitive position within an account
• How to set, monitor and track key objectives for accounts
• Skills and processes for up-selling and cross-selling
• Making new contacts and appointments
• Selling against the competition

4 Teamwork and time management

• Working with others within your organisation
• Managing and working with a virtual team
• Managing your time and accounts effectively

5 Action plan and learning summary

DAY TWO – The four key skills of consultative selling

1 Connecting

• Key skills and approaches for this stage of the customer’s buying process
• The first five minutes – ways to gain instant rapport and setting the foundation for a consultative approach in a first call
• How to structure an effective consultative sales call
• How best to differentiate your solutions and build credibility
• Overcoming initial buying resistance
• Opening the meeting

2 Consulting – influencing needs

• Key skills and approaches for this stage of the customer’s buying process
• Understanding the power of high-impact and third-level questions
• The importance of body language and other personal communication dynamics
• Creating a ‘disturb’ approach
• Defining and agreeing comparative advantages
• The six principles of unconscious influence

3 Convincing – helping the customer choose you

• Key skills and approaches for this stage of the customer’s buying process
• Mapping customer needs and preferences on to your solution
• Using the alternatives assessment tool
• ‘Decision making criteria’
• Key communication skills for this stage
• Creating and presenting a compelling proposition

4 Commitment – closing the sale

• Key skills and approaches for this stage of the customer’s buying process
• Isolate, prioritise and answer objections and concerns
• Deal more effectively and profitably with price objections and reduce buyer’s remorse
• Ways to ask for commitment professionally and pleasantly
• Managing the transition from prospect to customer

5 Summary

• Personal action plan and learning summary

DAY THREE – Optional follow-up workshop

This is typically held around four to six weeks after the initial course. It is structured around the following key points:

• Review of progress in implementing key skills from training
• Review of sales results from previous month (won/lost sales analysis)
• (Both of the above require participants to complete some pre-work and give a short presentation, leading to group discussion)
• Role-play and planning sessions based on elements arising from previous presentations and discussions
• Presenting skills

Further content to be decided based on learning outcomes of initial course