At some point in your childhood, you likely heard a parent, teacher or other adult parrot the age-old adage: “Honesty is the best policy.”
This expression isn’t normally associated with salespeople, who have long gotten a bad rap as deceitful smooth talkers. In LA, however, sales leaders at four tech companies are shaking off antiquated views of salespeople and embracing fresh honesty with their clients — even when it means recommending customers go to other vendors to best meet their needs.
It’s all part of the sales world’s shift toward a consultative approach — that is, generating open communication and creating authentic relationships with customers. By doing so, sales leaders are building trust and friendships with clients, who then are more likely to return for future projects.
It’s a win-win situation, LA sales leaders say, for companies and customers looking to adopt a more human approach to sales. After all, people buy products and services from people they like and trust.
“Consultative selling is about leveraging the human brain for the benefit of both parties,” said Billy Stein, director of sales at First Resonance. “People make decisions emotionally, and you have to stimulate those emotions with confidence to give them the warm fuzzies.”
Built In LA spoke to four tech companies about their paths to consultative sales and all the benefits they have reaped from it.
For sales leaders at First Resonance, a manufacturing software platform, consultative selling wasn’t always the go-to approach. Over time, they learned that revenue increases not only when clients are satisfied with the product, but also when they are happy with their salesperson.
Have you always had a consultative approach to sales, or is this a relatively new shift for you?
Not at all. As a younger, greener seller, I believed speaking unassumingly was the fast pass to the finish line. I had a eureka moment the first time I worked in a sales environment that included customer drop-ins where I could see the product I was selling in motion. Taking learnings for the first time and making recommendations based off of proven successes were my awakenings to the power of consultation.
The greatest controllable advantage you have in sales is that you are in place to tell the story of how to succeed using your product and/or service. This saved me years of my life trying to learn every nuance of my product. Instead, I focused on the impact of using the product as a framework to advise others on how to improve their state of operation with my product(s).
How do revenue results and client relationships change when salespeople take a consultative approach to their work?
There are two answers to this and it is very important that we remember the importance of accountability in sales. The first answer is that revenue increases when a client is happy with their experience and believes in the salesperson, and when the product satisfies their minimal criteria for function and price.
The second answer is: If salespeople take shortcuts, revenue may increase in the short term, but client relationships and long-term revenue deteriorate. Shortcuts in sales are devious techniques — like selling functions that don’t exist, taking liberties with the product roadmap or overselling the support aspects a company provides. You can still take a consultative approach in the second example, but it will negatively impact your customer, your supportive partners and ultimately your company’s revenue.
Having sold and bought software, I’ve found that even a minor product gap does kill every deal or any deal. Be honest when consulting. Everyone will win.
Having sold and bought software, I’ve found that even a minor product gap does kill every deal or any deal. Be honest when consulting. Everyone will win.”
What would you say to a person or team that was resistant to the idea of shifting to a more consultative approach?
Good luck! No, seriously. People don’t buy coffee because it’s hot, they don’t buy shoes because they have no laces and they don’t buy software because of how you clicked the buttons. Consultative selling is about leveraging the human brain for the benefit of both parties. People make decisions emotionally, and you have to stimulate those emotions with confidence to give them the warm fuzzies.
If your strategy to sell is to try to appeal to the rationality that your customer is aligned with you on everything you say, I promise you: your competitor has an employee who is willing to outwork you in a competitive deal cycle.
At Edmunds, a digital platform for car purchases, sales leaders focus on creating authentic friendships with customers, even when it means suggesting clients use other vendors to fulfill their project needs. As a result, the company found that its business was not as vulnerable to market highs and lows, as loyal clients would return for their next projects.
Have you always had a consultative approach to sales, or is this a relatively new shift for you?
Thinking back to my early days in traditional advertising sales, I do believe I have always had a natural tendency toward consultative selling. Strategizing is what I love, which is an important aspect in any marketing effort. When I started in radio in 2003, the digital era was on the horizon. During my seven-year tenure, I experienced a steep decline in the belief in the effectiveness of the medium in general. This forced me to be more creative and engage in deeper strategizing with my clients in order to find success myself. My short stint in print following my career in radio was no different. Plato said it best, “Our need will be the real creator.” That need helped prepare me for the level of strategy required for consultatively selling a digital marketing product.
Learning Google Analytics and performing data analysis immediately became a love for me. Seeing the trends and watching the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of multiple mediums within the data has positioned me for strategizing more effectively with my own product, as well as becoming a consultant to many of my clients outside of my product.
How do revenue results and client relationships change when salespeople take a consultative approach to their work?
Sales and revenue growth happen naturally when your goal is to help a client achieve their goals. Client relationships truly become friendships when you put a client’s needs over your own. I recall one of the very first accounts I was assigned to. I did not have access to their data. For about a year, every month when I met with the client, I sent an email to the CMO of the company in an attempt to gain access. I wanted to help the client not only better utilize and optimize my product but assist them in other areas as well. To accomplish that, I needed access to the data.
After a year of no responses, I sent a very detailed email to the CMO explaining what I wanted to help the client accomplish and specifically how the data would help me accomplish that. Later that afternoon, I was finally granted access. Through data analysis, I was able to help the client see what was working and what was not working and adjust their digital marketing spends accordingly. This relationship ultimately led to a dozen or more stores from that group utilizing my product. They remain my largest account to date.
When your value to your clients goes beyond your product, that value fills in those gaps and they choose you.”
What would you say to a person or team that was resistant to the idea of shifting to a more consultative approach?
Client relationships become less opportunistic and more consistent with a consultative approach. As a consultative seller, your business does not ebb and flow with the industry trends as much. When your value to your clients goes beyond your product, that value fills in those gaps and they choose you.
There have been multiple times when I have listened to a client and ultimately suggested a competing product for a specific need. Many of those clients come back and increase spends or utilize other products I have because those suggestions rendered positive results. When you take the pressure off of yourself to make a sale and just view each meeting as a discovery — an interview with one another to see if your product fits a need — you will find those times where your product fits very well, and you will have done so while making a new friend.
At Sure, an insurtech company, sales leaders have long embraced a consultative sales approach, even when it did not immediately result in profits. In the long term, however, they found that customers would return to them, seeking the authentic and trustworthy salesperson with whom they had built a relationship.
Have you always had a consultative approach to sales, or is this a relatively new shift for you?
A consultative approach has always been at the forefront of my sales strategy. You need to understand your customer, their pain points and how your solutions can help them solve that problem. I held sales roles in a number of different industries: enterprise insurance software, sports analytics software, data analytics platforms and industrial equipment software. No matter the industry, the approach is the same. It all comes down to active listening, creating trust and, most importantly, being authentic.
It all comes down to active listening, creating trust and, most importantly, being authentic.”
How do revenue results and client relationships change when salespeople take a consultative approach to their work?
The consultative approach to selling does not always yield revenue right away. At a previous company, I used this approach when discussing a specific product of ours versus a competitor’s solution. After discussing the pros and cons of leveraging our solution given the customer’s pain points, I recommended they choose a different vendor, as our solution wouldn’t be the best fit for them.
However, I left the door open by asking them to come back to work with me once their challenges would fit better with our solution, given our value proposition. They appreciated my honesty and the fact that I was truly trying to understand their challenges instead of forcing them into a solution that wouldn’t prove to be effective.
Later that year, the customer reached back out, this time with challenges that could be addressed by our solution. Despite leading them to a different vendor in the beginning, the trust that I was able to build with the customer allowed me to close the deal at a later date.
What would you say to a person or team that was resistant to the idea of shifting to a more consultative approach?
Sales has changed significantly over the past five-plus years as markets today are definitely more buyer-centric than ever. Most buyers have already done the legwork and research of options in the market, so it is very important to be real with them without feeling the need to go round in circles, which leads to wasting time.
Whether it is quick sales or long-term sales, moving to a consultative approach will have you, your team and your company seen as the experts in your industry and trusted by potential customers in your space.
For Outer, a direct-to-consumer outdoor furniture brand, sales leaders have always prioritized understanding the who, what and why of their clients. With greater trust, the company found they were able to better understand the customer’s needs and recommend more helpful solutions.
Have you always had a consultative approach to sales, or is this a relatively new shift for you?
Outer has always had a consultative approach to sales. It’s in my nature to want to know the who, what and why behind my clients. When you dig a little deeper, you give yourself and your clients an understanding of what the best options are for their specific needs.
How do revenue results and client relationships change when salespeople take a consultative approach to their work? Share an example from your experience.
When you use a consultative approach, you develop a relationship in which the client is more likely to open up about their needs and wants. The trust is there and you are able to paint a picture with the best options for them, which, in turn, usually results in repeat business or larger revenue deals.
When you use a consultative approach, you develop a relationship in which the client is more likely to open up about their needs and wants.”
What would you say to a person or team that was resistant to the idea of shifting to a more consultative approach?
I’d want to understand what the hesitation is and give them examples of consultative selling that could help fit their dynamics and personality.
