The Difference Between Consultative Selling and Consultants

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan
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Personality Tests, Sales Candidate Selection - How Tests Measure Up - By Dave Kurlan

One popular approach to sales is Consultative Selling. It's not new, it's been around since the 1960's, but it has since been formalized, complicated, examined, defined, refined, simplified and criticized. My book, Baseline Selling, included three elements: examined, refined and simplified. One of the many misunderstandings about Consultative Selling occurs when people confuse it with consultants and people hate consultants more than they hate attorneys! The standard definition/joke about consultants is that they ask for your watch and then charge you to tell you what time it is.

One of the best definitions of Consultative Selling came from Sales Development Expert Terry Ledden, who was my guest on this week's edition of Meet the Sales Experts. He said, "Consultative Selling means don't push ideas and solutions untl you've had a chance to have a more collaborative conversation." Terry had some great advice about selling in various cultures around the world, as well as the changes you can make to your sales approach and your sales force to improve effectiveness.

You'll love hearing how Terry got his start in sales - everyone can apply the unique approach he took to selling more cars than everyone else!

Listen to this week's show. Contact Terry.

Consultative Selling

Stepping Beyond Consultative Sales

How Does Someone Actually Do Consultative Selling?

Consultative Selling Won't Fill Your Pipeline

Consultative Selling Fills an Important Gap for Buyers

FAB Selling is Dead and Sales People Need to Work Smarter

Consultative Selling Solves the Puzzle Your Product Can't

Consultative Selling Addresses the Need Buyers Never Admit

How to Put Consulting into Consultative Selling

Consultative Selling Approach

Inc Magazine Gets it Wrong on Consultative Selling

Value Added Selling

Challenges Don't Always Require a Complete Sales Force Makeover

Why Consultative Selling is the only way to Sell

Sales Experts Disagree on the Right Way to Train Salespeople

A Woman\'s Edge In Sales

Warning to Sales-Focused Companies Wanting to Stay Relevant

The Difference between Motivation and Commitment

Effective Selling Can't Occur Until Salespeople Perfect This

The Glass Ceiling Effect In Selling

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Free PDF Download
Personality Tests, Sales Candidate Selection - How Tests Measure Up - By Dave Kurlan

About the Author: Dave Kurlan

RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website
Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).
Click here to visit Dave's website.

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