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New Selling Skills Needed in Today's Marketplace
| Guest post by: Steve Eungblut |
Article Overview: Traiditonal sales techniques do not work in today's economic climate. Recent trends demand new selling skills which take a consultative selling approach to business development.
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Free Download - New Selling Skills Needed in Today's Marketplace By Steve Eungblut |
New Selling Skills Needed in Today's Marketplace
With both the public and commercial sectors facing an ongoing lack of
confidence and cut backs in spending, and markets becoming more competitive each day, sales people across a various
industries are operating in a climate which has become more challenging
than ever before. With ongoing financial troubles and few signs of a forthcoming recovery in the developed economies of the United States and Western Europe, it is unlikely that these trends will take a more positive turn in the near future.
Constrained spending and aggressive competition is partly a result of the
various pressures which are now facing most senior executives, making them have
to work much harder to succeed in today’s marketplace. In turn, the roles of
sales and business development professionals have become far more difficult.
Buying decisions are either being commoditized and decided upon on by price, or
they are being viewed as strategic decisions and are therefore being made at a
much more senior level, regardless of the size of their organization.
Consequently, if sales professionals want to win strategic and more
profitable business, they need to sell more proactively and at a higher level.
But senior executives don’t want to be sold products...They want a proactive
consultative sale that delivers real business value, return on investment and
quick payback in terms of cash flow. It is for these reasons that traditional
sales techniques, such as Feature, Advantage, Benefit (FAB) selling, are dead –
they simply no longer work!
Traditional sales people need to smarten up and their sales techniques need
to evolve in the process. Consultative selling is the only way forward, even
for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Instead of pushing the features,
advantages and benefits of a solution, anybody in a sales role needs to
understand and take advantage of the external pressures facing their clients.
They then need to understand the client’s world and align their solutions with
their client’s biggest pains (or fears) and their biggest desires.
Top-flight sales people in today’s marketplace open discussions around the
client’s world before aligning the client’s needs and desires with their
solution. This is a sure route to improving your selling skills and, thus,
enhancing your sales performance and realized earnings – so long as you are
capable of get meetings in the first place!
However, senior buyers are even less accessible these days because they are
trying to succeed in a much more complex world and there are a lot of sales
people out there trying to steal their time to ask them meaningless questions
or tell them about the latest great product.
People in a sales role in the new world will need to be much smarter if
they’re going to succeed in today’s world of B2B selling. If they can’t be
smarter, they need to work smarter. They need practical and repeatable tools
and techniques for consultative selling – whether they are selling products, services or
a complex mix of both.
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About the Author: Steve Eungblut RSS for Steve's articles - Visit Steve's website Prior to Sterling Chase, Steve held a number of senior leadership positions encompassing: service delivery, sales, business development, and general management positions where he led global sales forces of up to 1,000 people. He has a track record in transforming commercial relationships, revenue and profits in companies that sell to the commercial and public sectors. He has delivered turnaround and growth on budgets of over £1bn and has always led by delivering a shift in process, skills, attitude, and behaviours. He passionately believes that people are an organisation's only truly valuable asset and believes that most people can deliver stunning results with the right mindset. Steve has an MBA from Leeds Business School and is a Harvard Business School alumni. He is a fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (ISMM) and is Vice President of the newly formed London Sales & Marketing Leadership Forum. Visit his sales training blog for regular sales tips, techniques and articles. Click here to visit Steve's website   New Selling Skills Needed in Todays Marketplace Effective Sales Techniques and a Consultative Selling Approach for Todays Marketplace |
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