In the world of B2B sales, the most successful sales people are considered trusted advisors by their prospects and clients. I’ve read several blog posts on the characteristics of a trusted advisor and its importance, but I have not yet seen general advice on the foundational steps to become a trusted advisor. If you’re looking for basic level instructions on how to move from pushy sales rep asking well-rehearsed questions to trusted advisor, read on. I’ve put together a list of 3 things that if you can master, you’ll have a better chance of making it to the winner’s circle and becoming a trusted advisor to your clients.
- Immerse yourself in your company. Learn everything you can about your organization – more than just the company pitch, year it was founded and number of customers. Culture, messaging, products, solutions, value proposition, features, functions, R&D process, support, you name it. Learn it all. Hopefully your company has a good onboarding program, but odds are you’ll have to take some of these tasks on yourself. You can’t possibly give your clients advice and recommendations about doing business with your company if you don’t know what it is you are selling them, the organization behind it, and the value that it brings to their company.
- Immerse yourself in your client’s company. Learn everything you can about the company you are trying to sell to without actually going to work for them. Vision, mission, values, organizational structure, industry served, customers, products, solutions, value proposition, competitors, growth strategy, you name it. Learn it all. Sound familiar? If you want to elevate your status to a trusted advisor, it starts with knowing everything about what your client does, how their products and services relate to their customers, and their execution challenges. Every company is either trying to cut costs or grow revenues – it’s up to you to figure out where your products fit within your clients’ needs.
- Stop Selling! Kind of. Daniel Pink, author of To Sell is Human, said in his speech that sales has changed more in the past 10 years than the past 100 years. But, according to his research, the top adjective that still comes to mind when Americans surveyed think of the terms “Sales” or “Selling” is “Pushy.” An often referenced statistic from CEB says that 57% of the purchasing decision is made before a customer even talks to a supplier these days. It’s hard to succeed at being pushy when someone already knows what they want. Your job isn’t to sell anymore; it’s to provide solutions to problems your clients weren’t even thinking about.
As Daniel Pink said, sales has changed. With your newfound knowledge about your company and your prospect or client, you are uniquely positioned to identify the areas you can help them execute their strategy. The final touch is helping them connect the dots to the measurable value that your company’s solutions provide, which of course fit perfectly with their needs. As a trusted advisor you must build a value-based relationship and properly position yourself as someone that they can call for advice not only to advance the company’s priorities, but also their own.
