Have You Earned The Right To Engage In Consultative Selling?

Twice over the past week, I have been involved in some interesting conversations revolving on engaging customers in talking about their business problems and solutions we might provide.

The first was a conversation between David Bonnette, Group VP of Oracle, Robin Carey of the Customer Collective, and Brent Leary. We were talking about some of the challenges in Oracle’s Provocative Selling initiatives. Netting it out in my words, “you have to be very careful about how you go into a customer and tell them they could be running their business much more effectively, you don’t know how they will react to it.

The second was yesterday, someone commented on my post over at the Customer Collective, The Future Of Solution Selling…. The commenter mentioned something I hear often: “I try to ask my customer probing questions about their business and they won’t tell me. No matter what I do, they build a wall and won’t share the information I need to really understand their problem and presenting a value based solution.”

The issue underlying both of these discussions is: Have you earned the right to ask the customer challenging questions about their business?

Think about it yourself, how would you feel if someone started asking you a lot of very detailed questions about your business? How would you feel if some of those questions focused on your problems and issues where you were not performing well? Would you immediately open up to someone who is telling you that you are being outperformed by others in your market?

I know my reaction would be to “clam up.” I’d put a very high wall between myself and the person asking me these questions. I’d likely be very suspicious, particularly if that person’s business card said “salesperson, account manager, business development manager.”

You already know that I evangelize consultative, customer focused, and value based approaches to facilitating the customer’s buying decision. You know that I believe you have to ask tons of question, probing the customers’ needs, aspirations, strategies, and goals. But how do you do this, how do you earn the right to ask the customer these challenging and perhaps threatening questions?

There’s no single method or process, but here are some ideas:

Earning the right starts with establishing your credibility–demonstrating to your customer that you have knowledge or capabilities that are relevant to them–and fit their current priorities. If the customer doesn’t know, immediately, that you can contribute to what they are doing, they will be reluctant to engage in any kind of discussion with you.

Developing a level of trust–appropriate for where you are in building the relationship or for where you are in the customer’s buying process. Trust is built over time, clearly the level of trust required for the customer to commit to implementing your solution is different than the level of trust required for early in their buying cycle.

Authenticity–this word is tossed around casually. To it means, demonstrating that you really care about the customer, both the organization and individual. Whether it is sensitivity to their time, the issues they face at this moment, or what they are trying to achieve. If you don’t really care about them, why should they care about you?

Creating the value in the interchange–does the customer get something out of every meeting? Do they learn something new? Are you using their time well?

Are you and the customer “in sync?” Sometimes the customer doesn’t understand why you are asking the questions you are asking. Sometimes the questions you ask are inappropriate for where you are in the buying process. Sometimes they don’t know how you will be using the information. I find explaining what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how it contributes to what the customer is trying to achieve helps the customer to open up, providing the information you need. If they have that look in their eyes, “Why is he asking me this,” you know you are both out of sync and you probably don’t have the level of trust necessary.

Demonstrate your humanity or vulnerability. I used to have a problem (sometimes, I still do), unwittingly and unintentionally, I have a tendency to intimidate people. It’s something about how I present myself (maybe I shouldn’t wear the brass knuckles on the first call.) People were a little bit afraid of me. Learning this, I have taken conscious steps to make myself real and a “normal” person. Sometimes it’s how I use humor to lighten up a situation, some times it’s reducing my intensity. Revealing your vulnerabilities, being human, helps build the relationship and trust.

Earning the right is critical in building a relationship and engaging the customer in giving you the information you need. It is critical in presenting a solution and asking them to select you as their partner. You begin earning the right in the very first call and build on it through the relationship.

What do you do to “earn the right” with your customers?