I’ll call the firm ABC Consulting. This firm provides general business consulting to small businesses – primarily “mom and pop”s. In ten years they have experienced rapid growth, in the neighborhood of 50% and more each year. Annual revenues are well over $100 million and they have thousands of employees. Their telephone sales reps cold call to set up appointments, the sales reps close the customer on a business analysis, and the business analysts close on the high-margin consulting services. Their closing ratios are impressive. The phone reps, the outside reps and the business analysts make one call, then move onto the next. The company does no advertising. The pace is fast and urgent. Get an appointment Monday, close Tuesday, do the analysis Thursday, close on consulting services Friday, deliver the services beginning Monday. It is a 100% cash business; customers pay at the end of each day.
If it sounds like a well-oiled machine, well, it is. It gets the results it is looking for, namely growth and profit. I have to concede that it works, but its values and methods make my skin crawl, and I have to wonder about the damage it does to its employees, its customers and to the image of the sales profession.
Here’s how consultative selling and the hard sell compare on values and methods.
Feature Consultative Sell Hard Sell Values Integrity Respect for the customer Authentic communication Sincerity Expediency Arrogance Manipulation Deception Competencies Listening Probing for needs Creative problem-solving Trust-building Assertiveness Persistent Fast-talking Probing for weaknesses Creative trickery Control Bullying, nagging, aggression Pushy Orientation Customer needs The customer is educated to make an informed buying decision Product promises The customer is beaten into submission Driven by Service to others Greed Strategy Find customer-partners Under promise, over deliver Lengthy sales cycle Target the vulnerable Over promise, under deliver One call sale Tactics Build credibility and mutual respect, understand customer needs and goals, find mutually beneficial solutions, gain agreement to action plans.
Impress the customer, play on fears or greed, thrust the product on the customer, make him take it, get the money, move onto the next prospect.
Measures of success Multiple: including customer loyalty, profit, community respect, employee satisfaction Just one; profit Conclusion My very unscientific study concludes that the hard sell approach works, but at a price too high for me. The consultative approach is a better fit for me and for my clients. Maybe growth won’t be as rapid, or margins as high, but I’ll sleep well at night and hold my head high as a consultative sales training consultant.
To learn more about this author, visit John Brennan's Website.
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John Brennan
(Visit John's Website)
John Brennan Ed.D.
Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal
Development, LLC, a training and
development firm. Interpersonal
Development has provided sales training
and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps
from over 100 companies.
A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan
received his doctorate from the University
of Rochester. His dissertation researched
the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling
Technology in training people in
interpersonal skills. While he has spent
most of his career designing or delivering
training, he was also a Vice-President of
Sales of a training and development
franchise with operations in 25 markets.
Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered
sales training in North America, Asia,
Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He
has been a guest speaker at numerous
national and regional professional
conferences.
When Microsoft wanted Best Practices
articles on sales for their web site, they
called Dr. Brennan. The results are at office.microsoft.com/e
n-us/FX011387391033.aspx
His firm’s clients have included Volvo,
The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman
Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the
Economist Group and countless small
businesses.
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