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DISCLAIMER
Copyright © 2018 Anthony Chaine. All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this material may be used, reproduced, distributed or
transmitted in any form and by any means whatsoever, including
limitation photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as
permitted under section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Copyright Act, without the prior written permission from the author,
except for brief excerpts in a review.
This book is intended to provide general information only. Neither the
author nor publisher provide any legal or other professional advice. If
you need professional advice, you should seek advice from the
appropriate licensed professional. This book does not provide
complete information on the subject matter covered. This book in not
intended to address specific requirements, either for an individual or
an organization. This book is intended to be used only as a general
guide, and not as a sole source of information on the subject matter
covered. While the author has undertaken diligent efforts to ensure
accuracy, there is no guarantee of accuracy or of errors, in omissions
or typographical errors. Any slights of people or organizations are
unintentional. The author and publisher shall have no liability or
responsibility to any person or entity and herby disclaim all liability,
including without limitation, liability for consequential damages
regarding any claim, loss or damage that may be incurred, or alleged
to have been incurred, directly or indirectly, arising out of the
information provided in this book.
First printing, 2019.
Connect with Anthony Chaine
www.asalesleader.com
www.linkedin/in/AnthonyChaine
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: What Is Consultative Selling? ................................ 1
Chapter 2: Large Buyers Master Game ................................... 7
Chapter 3: Consultative Selling Is Value-Driven................... 14
Chapter 4: Major Differences Between Consultative Sellers
And Vendors ........................................................................ 18
Chapter 5: Transitioning From A Vendor To A Sales
Consultant ............................................................................ 26
Chapter 6: Sales Consultant Versus Sales Vendors ............... 32
Chapter 7: Transaction Classification And Approach ............ 36
Chapter 8: Your Ethics Define Your Brand And Success ...... 40
Chapter 9: Sales Consultants’ Selling Edge .......................... 44
Chapter 10: How To Influence C-Level Executives .............. 48
Chapter 11: Value-Based Selling .......................................... 54
Conclusion ........................................................................... 58
About The Author ................................................................ 61
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
1
CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS CONSULTATIVE
SELLING?
onsultative selling consists of creating value and trust with
your potential customers. It’s an elevated method of
communication and interaction that ensures understanding your
customer’s needs before offering any type of business solution.
It’s an approach that creates a win-win situation for the buyer
and seller by putting the customer’s needs first.
Consultative selling is hyper-focused on serving the
customer in a transparent and caring manner that builds trust and
cooperation. It’s an honest style deprived of manipulation or
aggressiveness, where both the seller and the buyer can have a
dialogue that fosters openness and professionalism.
Consultative selling is a philosophy, a belief and a way of
conducting business where the seller engages in a dialogue with
a potential prospect by asking meaningful strategic questions to
understand each other effectively.
HISTORY OF CONSULTATIVE SELLING
The word ‘consultative’ was applied to sales for the first
time in 1970. Historically, the salesperson was the bearer of
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information and the customer was the recipient of a
collaborative dialogue controlled primarily by the seller. The
salesperson was in control of the sales process, knowledge, and
the close.
By the early 1980s, consultative selling started to emerge
as a better method, as it focused on the customer needs first
rather than the close. Consultative selling began its transition
from product-focused selling to need-focused selling.
When the internet empowered customers with the ease of
access to information, the competition got fiercer, product
innovation offered better options, and global competitors started
to compete with local companies. Many companies faced with
these significant challenges start training their sales force on
consultative selling, where relationship-selling and trust became
a potent winning differentiator.
The progression from product-focused approach to need-
focused approach occurred as a response to market demand and
the buyer’s behavior evolution that were influenced by the
advent of technology and general preferences.
These changes had tremendous effect in the sales force
ability to earn a living; the top produced had to apply agile
thinking to adapt to the new market demands, the salespeople in
the middle tier had to work much harder just to stay afloat.
However, these sales reps who were floating in the middle were
forced to change gear quickly to survive.
The sales process increased dramatically, since the
customer had access to most of the information they needed, and
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
3
no longer had to endure the pressure of decision-making in
exchange for getting product information from the sales reps.
Many sales organizations had used shaming tactics to
coerce the customer to buy, as if when the salesperson shared
their valuable information-based knowledge, the customer had
to do their part by buying the product.
Sellers that adopted the business philosophy of sharing
knowledge with their customers without reservation, and in a
distinct manner that promotes authenticity, simplicity, and trust,
continue to thrive.
CONSULTATIVE SELLING FOUNDATION
This approach requires a candid dialogue to understand the
buyer’s business, pressing issues, and expected outcome. It’s
the:
• process of working side-by-side with your client and
drafting a path toward mutual goals.
• process of working hard toward creating the ideal
business solution for your client and getting paid a fair
value for improving the overall client business.
• way of charging for services based on the outcome
achieved rather than time invested.
• process of involving competitors to work together to
deliver better results for your clients. It’s accepting the
fact that total client satisfaction is the goal.
Anthony Chaine
4
• way to create trusted relationships and lifelong
partnerships with most of your clients.
• way to create real value every time, with every customer
regardless of the company size or industry. It’s merely
being invested in the well-being and longevity of your
customers’ relationships.
MARGIN-ENHANCEMENT SELLING
At its core, consultative selling is margin-enhancement
selling. Decision makers are always looking for ways to save
money while dealing with vendors.
Vendors base their prices on the cost plus a profit margin.
Vendors transfer a product or service in exchange for a price that
is often subject to negotiations. Some vendors tend to hike their
prices, knowing that most vendors will push for lower prices.
Most vendors perceive decision makers as individuals who
want it all for less than market value. Vendor relationships are
often transactional in nature, where both parties try to get the
best deal possible.
Sales consultants base their price on the value they deliver
to the buyer. Your expertise should allow you to explore
possibilities and options the decision maker may not have
known or considered.
As a consultative seller, you should price according to the
value addition that you deliver to your clients. The higher the
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
5
value created, the higher your price.
Your ability – to look for ways to educate your customer on
how to add value to their client while improving their margins
and revenue – is priceless.
Consultative selling is all about increasing the client’s
margin and profit while building long lasting relationships. Most
vendors’ primary focus is to sell a product or service while
making an acceptable profit. These are two distinct sales
methodologies that relatively work based on their respective
markets and verticals.
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6
PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down how exactly you will use what you learned about
consultative selling in your sales approach while you are
presenting your product, service, proposal, or idea.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
List the difference between consultative selling and vendor
selling methodologies.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
7
CHAPTER 2: LARGE BUYERS MASTER
GAME
endors are often pressured to reduce their prices to make a
sale. Most vendors are subject to fierce competition and to
win the deal many sacrifice their competitive advantage and
product superiority to make a sale.
The customer may not always be right, but they do hold the
power of purchase and rejection. Your ability to shift the
customer asking for a discount into a conversation revolving
around different available business solution packages may be
the way to get the customer to agree to a solution that meets one
business needs.
For example, when a company wants to buy large copiers,
it generally places a bid, then sits back and watches as a fierce
competition ensues among vendors to win the deal.
The larger the deal, the more willingness to sacrifice
margin. Many vendors will throw in several additional items to
sweeten the transaction.
Here is an example of items that are often offered as a free
add-on value:
• Multi-year, no-cost maintenance services
V
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• Enhanced upgrades at no cost
• Free replacement while under contract
• Interest-free financing
• Free backups systems
RFP GAME—CAUTION
As a sales leader, I spent years in several Fortune 500
organizations dealing with B2B sales consultants who needed
assistance with their request-for-proposals (RFP)—a tedious
process even with the support of a specialized team.
I spent many weekends reviewing or enhancing many RFPs
to meet customer demand, especially when the RFP team
deemed the opportunity presented was not significant enough to
warrant their focus, or when occasionally our RFP got bumped
back because of higher-priority requests or larger national deals
that had more weighted value to the company.
In the banking environment, RFP deadlines are brutally
unrealistic. However, failure to deliver will destroy your
credibility and eliminate you from any future consideration.
Hence, the need to be creative and continuously hustle to
perform—with or without resources—is an unspoken mandate.
Surrendering to the RFP terms and conditions seems to be the
nature of the beast.
Many large contracts are won that way, but unless you have
a dominant competitive advantage to achieve success, you will
quickly realize that your success has an eroded margin built on
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
9
an anemic revenue platform.
RFP IS THE NEMESIS OF MARGIN
I always felt that RFPs are mostly time-wasters and revenue
illusions. Even when the bid is successful, you find out that the
margin is ridiculously low and the revenue is unattractive. The
buyer wins by pitting competitors against one another. I once
had a buyer who wanted the pricing page to be at the very front
to speed the elimination process without even considering the
RFP-specified requests against firm capability.
SUCCESS RATE
Some sales consultants are so focused on responding to
multiple RFPs on a weekly basis that they forget the economic
impact of neglecting to build a strong pipeline. Many RFPs
require painstaking attention to the requirements, diverting
many resources to create these customized or templated RFPs to
meet bid asks. Some large specialized companies do this
frequently and thoroughly.
Most bidders have a low probability of success, however,
especially if the company or the sales rep has no substantial
influence on the buyer. RFPs are time-consuming and often take
away the company’s and the sales consultant’s focus from other
valuable opportunities with higher winning odds.
It would be best if you were alarmed when:
• Your pipeline is filled primarily with RFPs
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• You are spending most of your productive time chasing
RFPs
• You are seeking bid sites frequently or you are listed to
receive RFPs leads, and you capitalize on them as the
primary source of revenue generation
• Your entire production is based on RFP outcome
PRE-DEFINED WINNERS
Industry experts state that most RFPs are built with specific
criteria that narrow the field to few pre-defined
companies. Buyers usually have preferences, and critical
information sometimes gets into the hands of the potential
preferred bidder earlier. I’m not suggesting that the system is
rigged, I’m merely stating that the decision makers have their
preferred picks.
An RFP can be designed precisely to enhance the chance of
a few players by requesting that a combination of specific
criteria must be met. Here is an example:
• Industry experience
• Unique credentials and history
• Technical capabilities
• Experience with similar jobs (size, scope, geography)
INFLUENCE MATTERS!
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
11
Surrendering to an RFP’s terms and conditions leads to a
minimally accepted revenue to do the job with the hope of
creating the necessary influence to secure future lucrative RFPs.
Remember, the same rule that forced the company to tender the
RFP will apply again, despite the quality of your work.
RFP EQUALIZE THE FIELD
Your response means you agree to the term and conditions
and you accept to be part of the same box of pricing uniformity.
Can you offer more value than what the prospect asked for? The
answer is, yes. But it may not be necessary all the time.
Leveraging a differentiating competitive advantage that
may not be part of the RFP request can help you win the bid.
Here is an example:
• Post-project audits and education of best practices
• Fixed periods maintenance and progress evaluations
• Employee/management periodic remote education.
The extra value may not work all the time to secure the deal
despite the fact your bid meets all the project objectives.
However, this type of out-of-the-box response may set you apart
from your competitors.
ASSET OR LIABILITY
An RFP can be an asset or a liability, depending on your
focus, resources availability, and success rate. Few markets deal
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12
with government agencies and large Fortune 500 organizations
that mandate conventional RFPs.
However, if your industry, company or sales consultant rely
primarily on RFPs to meet their objectives, you should probably
have a dialogue exploring ways to improve their long-term
competitive advantage and sustain a healthy level of margins
and revenue. You may want to reinforce what makes you the
best choice and emphasize critical differentiators that set you
apart from your competitors.
CUSTOMIZE TO WIN
Smaller organizations can create an easy-to-customize
work frame that breaks down an RFP into different required
areas such as technical expertise, field experience, strategic
value-added, financial prowess, company strength, and
specialization. Good templates can be quickly reworked to
create value-driven content for future similar RFPs.
My advice is to refrain from responding to most RFPs
unless you establish a good rapport with the buyer and you can
quickly make the case that your company can provide add-value
beyond the current RFP request.
However, when the deal is worth your effort, and you
respond, try to add value beyond what's typically requested and
incorporate it in an addendum. Little things can be the only
things that capture the evaluator’s interest.
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
13
PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down exactly how selling to large clients differs from
small transactional selling.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
When is it necessary to respond to a request for proposal? How
can you increase your winning odds?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Anthony Chaine
14
CHAPTER 3: CONSULTATIVE SELLING IS VALUE-
DRIVEN
onsultative selling focuses on adding so much value to the
client business, it makes it harder for the client to argue
price. Consultative selling is value-driven and high-margin
proposition.
The higher the perceived value in the mind of the client, the
less concern about cost. The higher the value provided, the
higher the client satisfaction.
The main difference is vendors downgrade value by not
being strategic, while consultative selling restores and upgrades
the customer perceived value.
Consultative selling is based on a dialogue between the
client and the business expert. The sales consultant learns about
the client’s business, complexity, current issues, and the
outcome they are looking to achieve from this initiative.
This solution-based selling methodology is all about
elimination of client issues and finding a path that will increase
profit and improve client retention by providing an additional
C
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
15
solution that wows customers.
CONSULTATIVE SELLING REQUIREMENT
• Solid research beyond what the client asks. The purpose
is to open the client’s mind to new options they may not
have considered before.
• Asking intelligent questions to understand the business
purpose and the outcome it is trying to achieve.
• Actively listen to the client’s aspiration, wants, and
needs. As a growth partner, you want to exceed
expectations.
• Define the business issues as they are the quantifiable
logical reason behind the pain, concern, and business
goals.
• Understand your client’s “why” and communicate your
“why”. Stay flexible in your approach and thoughts;
everything you do should create mutual benefits with the
customer’s interest at the very center of your decision-
making process.
• Follow through post-sales. Think in terms of long-term
relationships, future up-sales, cross-sales, and
testimonials.
Anthony Chaine
16
PROACTIVE LEARNING
Why do you think consultative selling is value-driven?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Why do you believe consultative selling should focus on the
customer first?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
17
Anthony Chaine
18
CHAPTER 4: MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
CONSULTATIVE SELLERS AND VENDORS
here are many significant differences between consultative
selling and vending. The difference is apparent in the
approach, language, methods, thought process, mindset
relationship building, outcome, product positioning, packaging,
and delivery.
The above approaches, methods, and processes are distinct.
A vendor makes products and sells them, often by sacrificing
margin.
T
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
19
PULL VERSUS PUSH
A vendor’s aggressive approach relies on lowering the
prices to make a sale. The more competitive the bid, the higher
the erosion of margin.
The more push-back a vendor gets, the more willingness to
lower the price. Vendors often view their products as
commodities even when far superior to competitors’ offerings.
Sales consultants leverage their products’ competitive
advantages and focus on the value addition derived from the
offered business solution. The value could be financial,
operational, legal, or other.
Sales consulting is all about positioning the business
solution’s competitive edge in a way that makes it desirable.
Sales consultants are all about selling value, while the vendor
sells the product as is.
• Vendors sell to anyone willing to buy their products.
Consultative sellers sell to business buyers and
managers who are looking to maximize value.
• Vendors focus on the features and functionality the
product brings you today. Consultative sellers
demonstrate their business solution competitive
advantages and the specific component that will get you
to achieve your desired outcome.
• Vendors are intimately familiar with lowering their
Anthony Chaine
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prices the moment they are subjected to the slightest
customer or market pressure.
Consultative sellers view the price as the investment
required to acquire a business solution that provides a higher
ROI. Business consultants focus on getting you to envision the
financial gains you are going to generate by buying the product
you need to achieve your ultimate desired outcome.
PRICE CONCEPT
While price will always be an important factor in decision
making for your clients, it’s often not as critical as you may
think. The buyer knows there is a price that must be paid to
acquire the products and services they must have. When the
product is perceived as a commodity or sold as such, however,
the buyer will naturally compare it to similar products and
available options.
WHAT’S YOUR EDGE?
Vendors tend to highlight their product’s features and
advantages and over-emphasize the characteristics that
differentiate them from other competitors with similar products
in the marketplace.
This strategy leads the customer to focus primarily on the
value of these differentiating factors while canceling the benefit
of all similarities. This comparative analysis leads to reducing
the product impact to price only.
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
21
Vendors are used to customer’s addiction to price
discounting. When markets are in growth mode, and the
customers are plentiful, the discount factor tends to be offset by
the sales volume. When the market is down and buying,
customers are scarce, however, the discount factor goes
exponentially higher.
Discounting is often a habit triggered by fear, a desire to
shorten the sales cycle or to ensure meeting one quota. I have
seen my share of vendors leading with price and even
volunteering a price discount to win the deal.
Consultative selling focuses on providing competitive
advantages by demonstrating ways to increase profits, reduce
cost, win market share, and gain an edge over existing
competitors. Consultative sellers focus on opening the buyer’s
perspective to the value derived from the ongoing partnership,
rather than a single transaction.
PRICE COMPETITIVENESS
Buyers will carefully review your product specifications,
features, advantages, and benefits in comparison to the asked
price. Naturally, they will perform a market comparison of your
product versus your competitors’.
Finally, they will pit your competitors against you to get the
highest value possible for the lowest price possible. As a vendor,
if your product is superior, you may end up having a fair price,
though if your product is average, you may end up with lower
margin or no deal.
Anthony Chaine
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Consultative sellers are aware of this pitfall; that is why
they sell on value and ROI first. Then they position the price as
a necessary investment to drive higher performance,
productivity, and return on investment.
This strategy moves the buyer’s focus from a cost
perspective to a growth mode.
TYPES OF BUYERS
There are primarily two types of buyers:
Traditional Transactional Buyers: This category sees
every vendor as a dishonest broker trying to maximize profit at
the buyer’s expense. Each time the vendor provides a pricing
concession to speed up the buyer decision-making process, it
reinforces the buyer’s belief that most vendors are unethical.
Also, pressure and rejections often lead to better deals.
Economic Buyers: These buyers are often executives or
business owners looking to grow their business or companies.
They are often fair in their dealings with vendors; they are
shrewd professional negotiators who respect their business
partners.
These economics buyers do primarily get excited when
working with consultative sellers, mainly because these industry
experts bring in new ways to spur growth and maximize profit
for the organization. The business consultant ideas and
expertise become part of the overall ROI derived from the
business solution. Well-executed ideas create higher value and
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
23
faster returns. The product acquisition becomes just an add-on
to the equation.
THE VARIENCE
A vendor will educate you on the usage of the product you
buy. A consultative consultant will explore many ways that will
allow acquiring market shares you never thought possible.
The transaction with a vendor feels like you exchanged
money for a product you needed to get a specific issue resolved.
These transactions often leave the buyer with some level of
doubt.
Could one have acquired a better business solution at a
lower price from another vendor? Based on cost, was the
solution purchased the best in the market? How reliable is the
company’s customer service policy? Vendors are perceived as
takers who cannot be trusted.
A consultative seller leaves the buyer with no doubt. The
buyer feels they got more than their money’s worth. The ideas
provided and shared concept was worth more than the product
itself.
Consultative sellers leave the buyer satisfied with the
transaction and the trusted relationship forged with one another.
Buyers often feel that they are working with an equally trusted
unpaid employee. Consultative sellers are perceived as givers of
time, energy, smart ideas, and proven financial concepts that
work.
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24
PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down the major differences between consultative sellers
and vendors.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Write down the competitive advantages that consultative sellers
have over vendors. Which sales methods are you currently
using?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
25
Anthony Chaine
26
CHAPTER 5: TRANSITIONING FROM A VENDOR TO
A SALES CONSULTANT
Can a vendor become a consultative seller?
he answer is yes, of course. However, it will require a
mindset, skillset, and toolset change, along with a process
change at the individual level.
Vendors are all about selling a product by exerting some
level of pressure and reducing the price to gain agreement,
especially when faced with a slow decision-making buyer.
Some vendors attempt to create a sense of urgency by using
some form of sales pressure and gimmicks. For example, “We
are trying to close the quarter on a strong footing. We are willing
to reduce your current final price by an additional ten percent,
on the condition you sign the order before the end of this
month.”
This pressure model may work sometimes, but it is often
perceived negatively. Vendors often incur a substantial
opportunity cost, usually because the usage of pricing and sales
tactics is often not a reason to move these buyers forward.
Savvy buyers often propose a ridiculously low price and
T
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
27
wait for the vendor to go as low as permissible or just give up
on the deal when it doesn’t meet their specific target. Shrewd
customers view a vendor giving up on a contract as a sign that
they already got the bare minimum price offer.
Habitual discounting is the norm for vendors, and this
approach lengthens the sales cycle by allowing the buyer to
leverage time and pressure against them.
Consultative sellers create a sense of urgency by leveraging
decision making and time as a tool to secure additional financial
gain for the customer. Time becomes an opportunity cost that
needs to be seized and maximized. Time becomes the vehicle to
make additional new net revenue.
The investment of acquiring the product becomes an urgent
matter to tap into future financial opportunities. For example:
Assuming you invest $200,000 and your investment will
generate a gross yearly revenue of new sales equating
$2,000,000, it means you will be making a yearly profit of
$1,800,000 or $150,000 of profit per month. Leveraging this
financial gain can speed the customer decision-making process.
This simple approach will heighten the ROI as well as the
opportunity cost.
When positioned as such, timing becomes everything. The
faster you acquire the solution, the more revenue you will
generate. Consultative sellers shorten the sales cycle by
leveraging every available opportunity cost.
Anthony Chaine
28
Buyer Revenue Enhancer
• Faster product implementation and start-up cycle.
• Significant product return
• Improved qualitative and quantitative results
• Better predictable output
Desirable Benefits
• Faster and glitch-free installations
• Professional installs done on premise at no additional
cost
• Reliable output, with minimum maintenance time
CONSULTATIVE SELLING
Most buyers conduct some level of market research on the
product, suppliers, prices, and company reviews to create a
similar foundation on which to base their selection.
Vendors often rely on comparative charts that depict
product features, advantages, and benefits against other market
suppliers. It’s usually a straightforward simple comparison.
Consultative sellers focus on other critical key performance
indicators (KPIs) that can impact the buyer's bottom line. Some
of these metrics include market growth, access to new
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
29
demographics, increase operating revenue, decreasing operating
costs, improved customer relationships, and enhanced repeat
sales.
Consultative selling is all about delivering on the above
agreed-upon KPIs. Failure to do so will breach the trust and
destroy the bond forged between the buyer and seller.
Consultative sellers are all about delivering on promises and
following up continuously to ensure the promised outcome is
being met.
The required follow-up is critical. That is why the price
needs to comprise the post-sell monitoring and account
maintenance as a long-term part of the agreement
Anthony Chaine
30
PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down how exactly you can transition from a vendor to a
consultative seller.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
What are the major differences between a vendor and a
consultative seller from an ROI and KPI’s perspective?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
31
Anthony Chaine
32
CHAPTER 6: SALES CONSULTANT VERSUS SALES
VENDORS
You are a sales consultant if your primary focus is:
• Asking targeted questions to understand the client’s
business without making any conclusions.
• Asking questions to identify your client’s financial
problems in terms of missed revenue and opportunity
cost.
• Spotting revenue gaps, operational improvements, and
profit enhancement along with issue resolution.
• Acting as a resource to resolve your current client’s
problems while achieving a better outcome.
• Thinking about ways to partner together to improve your
client’s financial state while eliminating obstacles.
• Delivering benefits as revenue improvement and cost
reduction
You are a vendor if your focus is:
• Asking shallow questions while you are thinking about
The Great Art Of Consultative Selling
33
connecting your product functionality to your customer
exact needs.
• Marketing your products and services as a cure-for-all
to your customer ails.
• Thinking in terms of your products and services’
superiority as the only competitive edge you should
offer.
• Viewing the client’s financial well-being as their
concern.
• Feeling that a long-term relationship is a nice thing to
have, but not a priority.
• Viewing customer relationships as limited to a specific
transaction.
• Pricing your products and services on a cost-plus margin
as the only basis.
• Viewing most relationships as a discounting-based
opportunity.
• Delivering benefits as products’ functionality.
Anthony Chaine
34
PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down exactly what a consultant focuses on versus what
you focus on while selling.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Write down exactly what a vendor focuses on versus your
approach. Write down the areas that you need to improve on?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
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CHAPTER 7: TRANSACTION CLASSIFICATION AND
APPROACH
VENDORS
endors position the purchase of their product as a cost to
the business—what the firm pays out to acquire the
product.
SALES CONSULTANT
Sales consultants position the value derived from the
acquisition as money invested to stimulate large returns, in
terms of revenue growth, profit maximization, future value
creation, increase in owners’ returns, market share increase, and
cost reduction.
Sales consultancy is all about positioning. It’s much easier
to have a conversation with your client about an investment that
impacts their returns, increases market share and net profit,
while decreasing overall cost and improving opportunity cost,
over discussing price.
Most companies go out of business because of three main
reasons:
1. Undercapitalization
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2. Wrong decision-making
3. Bad market conditions
Decision-making is a huge part of the success of an
organization. Buyers at all level of the organization, ranging
from strategic operation buyers to partners with trusted sales
consultant’s relationships, look for ways to improve their buying
power image while advancing the company agenda.
Organization heads are not afraid to make significant
purchases to achieve specific organizational milestones.
However, most are fearful of making substantial mistakes or
being taken advantage of. This is the reason behind their
preference of buying from primarily trusted sources.
BUYER’S MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS
• Revenue growth
• Acquire a higher percentage of market share
• Increase gross profit margin
• Improve customer satisfaction
Great sales consultants assist senior buyers in achieving
their business targets by influencing controllable activities that
create results.
Vendors often act more like product and service pushers
than professionals. Many do not speak the business language of
the sophisticated buyers, putting them at a disadvantage. Senior
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buyers’ business language is often finance-oriented.
Sales consultants must be fluent in the industry and finance
language as much as their clients. They should possess a certain
level of financial intelligence to understand economic data,
allocation of resources, budget expenses, and operational
investment.
They should, at a minimum, be able to read and analyze an
income statement or P&L, balance sheets, cash flow statements,
and separate hard data from standard assumptions and estimates.
• Profit-centered business functions are often focused
on opportunities to create revenue and new earning by
selling more of their products and services. A sales
consultant’s role is to help find gaps and fix them.
• Cost-centered business functions are focused on
reducing and eliminating cost on most business areas. A
sales consultant’s role is to see areas of contribution to
meet the management objectives.
Your purpose is simple as a business consultant; your role
is to find the gap and remedy it. The customer will give you their
time, attention, and resources to remedy the issue as a trusted
consultant and a growth partner. Vendors cannot achieve this
level of trust.
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PROACTIVE LEARNING
In term of purchase positioning, what major distinction exists
between a consultative seller and a vendor?
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What type of approach does a consultative seller take to
facilitate decision-making versus a vendor?
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CHAPTER 8: YOUR ETHICS DEFINE YOUR BRAND
AND SUCCESS
endors often try to circumvent a buyer’s resistance by
reaching out to a higher authority to achieve the level of
profitability they are seeking. Many believe that a higher
authority officer is easier to convince than their lower-ranking
counterparts.
The higher the person in the purchasing ladder, the more
focused they are on the value proposition offered. These people
invest higher financial resources on higher value propositions,
but minimal resources on required vendors’ products.
The higher-ups respond to value, time gain, revenue
generation, streamlining the process to multiple productions. If
you don’t have a solid value proposition based on value
multipliers, you don’t stand a chance.
VALUE PROPOSITION
The sales consultant should ask and know the answer to the
following questions.
• Here is what you should expect from us… You should
start seeing these benefits three months after
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implementation.
• Here are the advantages you should realize by these
specific dates.
• You should achieve a 30% increase in your system
performances by June, and you should save $140,000 in
your marketing expenses by the same time.
• You should reduce your discounting process by 40% by
July 2018, and you should eliminate it by July 2019.
• You will reduce your current marketing program by
60% by June 2019, and you should increase your
aggregate sales force closing ratio by 10% by the same
date.
MARKET STANDARDS
Sales consultants superimpose the company current norm
standards with the market norm standards and the current
business standards. This analysis allows you to compare your
product’s edge against competitors’ products’ edge as it is often
the norm in vendors selling.
The key behind this initiative is to reflect the following: Our
company standards are way higher than the industry current
average standards. My job is to take your current standards to
our level, providing you with a significant competitive
advantage and allowing you to upgrade your capabilities on a
continual basis to stay ahead of your competitors.
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Standards provide the sales consultant with the necessary
impactful language that the buyer understands.
• Your transactional uptick time is 89.5%, our average is
99.9%, the industry average is 89.9%. That will put you
among the 1% payment processors in term of speed.
• Your profit per average transaction in this specific area
is X dollars. Getting you to our standards will triple your
profit per transaction.
• Our system output generates five times your current
output. The industry standard is double your current
production.
• Your sales cycle takes three months. Our sales cycles
performance system will reduce your sales cycle to 1.5
months doubling your revenue, and saving you 50% in
resources.
• It takes you 12 minutes to resolve customer issues. Our
automated system fixes most issues in half the time,
reducing waiting time by 50% and saving you 20% in
monthly payroll.
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PROACTIVE LEARNING
According to your understanding, explain why it is easier to
convince a top-ranking corporate officer over his subordinate.
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Write down how exactly you will use what you learned to target
higher-ranking decision makers.
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CHAPTER 9: SALES CONSULTANTS’ SELLING EDGE
he business consultant’s primary job is to find a
demonstrable advantage and gaps that they can close. All
businesses have issues, deficiencies, and problems ranging from
legal, operations, HR, sales, compliance, finance, and structural
issues. Companies cannot operate indefinitely without
addressing these debilitating problems.
Vendors sell products, but sales consultant solutions are
significantly superior as they get the client closer or above
market standards. The sales consultant acts like a doctor—they
ask questions, listen carefully, take notes, and research to
understand not just the symptom but the reason that led to the
ailment.
Doctors take the necessary time to diagnose the whole body
and understand the overall patient health. Once all vitals are
checked, then a customized remedy is prescribed, and a follow-
up check-up is scheduled.
Similarly, a sales consultant reviews everything thoroughly
before offering any suggestions or business solutions.
Clear, customized question should be asked to understand
the holistic aspect of the business.
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• What are you trying to accomplish? How soon? And
why?
• What value will you derive from achieving your
request?
• How would it affect your customers?
• How would it change your bottom line? What is
important to you?
• Why is a shorter sales cycle vital to your business? How
would it affect your just-in-time imported inventory?
• What is your current norm? What is the industry
standard? Why is it essential to reduce it by half?
• What competitive edge will be ideal for your business?
• What critical success factors you must achieve to ensure
your business survival and growth?
• What is the minimum output you must meet to gain
significance in the market?
• What is the ideal outcome you want to achieve?
• Can you provide me with your current business issues
statement and tie each loss to a dollar value?
• What specific cost are you trying to lower or even
eliminate, and by when?
• What time waster are you trying to eliminate? Describe
your why and by when.
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PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down exactly what questions you would ask your clients
to create value.
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What’s the best approach to get your clients to reveal hidden
problems?
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CHAPTER 10: HOW TO INFLUENCE C-LEVEL
EXECUTIVES
-level executives rarely get involved with the vendor unless
under high pressure to resolve a critical issue. Vendors
speak the language of price and output; C-level executives talk
about value and profit maximization.
Vendors tend to be self-centered. “Here are my product’s
distinctions, my price in comparison to my competitors.” C-
level executives worry about the value they bring to their
customers to keep an edge over their competition. Vendors think
cost and speed of decision making. C-level executives think in
terms of business solution value.
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES THINK IN TERMS OF
• What kind of profit would add to my bottom line?
• How can you contribute to my growth?
• What’s so unique about your business solution that’s
worth the investment?
• How can you assist me in attaining my business
objectives?
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• What is the ROI or revenue derived from this
partnership?
• How does your solution increase margin and decrease
the cost of my operations?
VALUE AND PERCEPTION MATTERS
BECOME PART OF THE BUSINESS MATRIX
C-level executives are always seeking outside intelligence.
Your ability as a business consultant to connect the dots beyond
your industry can position you as a profit enhancer or a field
expert.
If you are in the payment industry, you cannot speak just
rates, cost reduction, transactional speed, and POS’s. It would
help if you covered additional areas of concerns such as:
software’s capability, legal challenges, compliance issues,
robotic capability, banking channels, aggregators, accounting
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and finance. By understanding your partner’s business
complexity, you become a reliable contributor worthy of
consultancy.
You need to earn the right to be perceived almost like an
internal member of the management team.
You should know:
• How the application of your business solution will align
with your internal client process without interruption.
Knowing this matter intimately will allow you to
uncover specific areas where to eliminate redundancy
and costs while improving efficiency.
• How to quantify your contributions to the company.
Getting the system up and running is one thing. Being
able to define with clarity the KPIs that you are
impacting in term of performance and output, and
putting them in financial terms is the way to justify your
work.
C-level executives need to see the output in a language they
understand, and that’s finance vocabulary; nothing is more
potent than seeing your business solution impact on the
company ROI graph or a balance sheet.
Business consultants are all about a transfer of value, and
value comes in the form of money, time, ideas, connections, and
expertise. Created value can be summed up in the variance from
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the initial state you find the business in to the new state you help
the business achieve through the implementation of your
business solution. That variance is what defines your aptitude as
a growth partner and a change agent.
The best value a business consultant can provide is to meet
the perceived value that the customer expects and according to
his specific norms. Unless that value meets or preferably
exceeds the customer needs, the consultant cannot be rated as a
growth partner.
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PROACTIVE LEARNING
Write down the competitive advantages that business
consultants add to the business.
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Write down exactly why C-level executives prefer working with
consultative sellers over vendors.
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CHAPTER 11: VALUE-BASED SELLING
his is a philosophy practiced by business consultants where
one removes the idea of price out of all discussions with
the customer and replaces it with the value derived from the
acquisition of the business solution. An investment is not a cost;
rather you are creating new monies and opportunities by
investing in your business, you are creating organic growth.
Smart business consultants always perform a customer-
improved profitability analysis to justify the before and after
value creation. Failure to conduct this analysis will force one to
sacrifice some margin. The higher the improved profitability
results, the higher your price.
Any value-add should have a price; the aggregate value-add
in term of profitability and cost savings should consist of the
final asked price.
HOW TO POSITION PROFIT IMPROVEMENT
OPPORTUNITY
1. Find the problem and define it with precision. Then
propose how you will address both the issue and the
opportunity it creates. That way, you become a fixing
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engineer and an architect of growth.
2. Leverage cost savings on a yearly basis or five-year
increments, then position the additional potential
opportunity revenue increase that turns a problem from
a cost perspective into a revenue-generating
opportunity. E.g.: our analysis has shown that by
resolving this issue, you will generate a $100,000 in
savings the first year and $500,000 by your fifth year.
Also, by adopting this enhanced add-on solution, you
will produce a net new sales increment of $150,000 in
year one, and $750,000 in five years.
3. Set the process of delivery on how you are going to
ensure the phases of solution implementation. The
milestones you are going to implement ensure that the
ongoing progress meets the promises made to the
customer.
BUILDING PARTENSHIPS
Building partnerships is a collaborative approach that
requires the business consultant to work closely with the client
to achieve a specific outcome. To have access to critical
information, the business consultant must be resourceful.
• Complete in-depth research on the industry.
• Question company employees to learn about their
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business, process, system, management, decision
making, gaps, challenges, competitors, performances,
ailments, and desires outcomes.
• Be granted access to study internally current issues and
find a resolution.
• Internal accomplishments can be achieved along with
external growth by leveraging external expertise from a
different perspective.
Great business consultants are growth partners looking for
ways to help the business grow faster, in a more efficient manner
while achieving desired results, gaining market share, increasing
customer and employee satisfaction, while cutting cost.
You want to be perceived as the best in the business and
should emanate from the following:
• The best source of revenue and profit growth.
• You are a dependable source of continuous ideas of
growth.
• You create a competitive edge above competitors and
market norms.
• You are the liaison that creates add-value with other
partners to benefit your clients.
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PROACTIVE LEARNING
What benefits does value selling provide? What benefits can you
generate from partnering with your industry influencers
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How can you position value-selling in your approach to win
over reluctant customers?
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CONCLUSION
onsultative Selling creates more revenue than vending. It
generates higher profit-margin and often higher sales
volume. These incremental cash flows have a higher net worth
to you because they can be achieved at a lower cost to you than
vending.
Consultative selling is all about value creation. The
salesperson becomes a growth partner and a value-adder, and a
large force on the design, co-management, and realization of a
specific financial gain.
This method forces both parties to collaborate in real-time
to generate additional profit improvement inputs. The customer
moves from the position of being a decision-maker to a partner
fully invested in the joint creation of an ideal business solution
that meets his goals.
There are many advantages of using consultative selling
methods in B2B. Consultative selling is about the
transformation of a physical capital into an intellectual, financial
capital. Consultative sellers look beyond the product to find new
streams of potential margin.
However, most suppliers continue to sell their products as
a commodity where you exchange a physical capital for a price.
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Many suppliers still use product-centered selling by
default, because they don’t know how to market the applied
value of their products and people. These suppliers continue to
rely on discounted margins to sell more and more volume to
survive and potentially drive weaker and smaller competitors
out of business.
A supplier who uses smart consultative selling approach
elevates his brand recognition, improves the opportunity to build
long-term, trust-based customer relationships, and creates an
environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and
bettered.
All sales happen as the result of comparisons between
available options. Consultative selling’s success lies in relating
the price to an investment; this method allows the buyer to focus
on the new profits derived from the investment returns rather
than the product cost or performance.
Consultative selling transform a product unit into a
financial profit unit.
Whatever you do, please take advantage of this method; it
worked for me for years. I’ve offered you a blueprint of the step-
by-step process of taking advantage of what the consultative
selling method provides, for now, to improve your career.
The advent of technology, robotics, big data, and science
has transformed how we communicate, interact and buy. Sales
have changed and will continue to evolve. The best salespeople
today are those who know how to create a compelling case for
change and help their customers to achieve a better outcome
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than expected.
By applying the principles of consultative selling, you will
become a trusted change agent and financial advisor.
Sales trends, platforms, and approaches are changing at a
rapid pace. Don’t be afraid to try new ways, and listen to your
instinct. It will always lead you toward the improvement of your
financial, personal, and professional life.
Now go and make a difference!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
nthony Chaine, Elite Sales Leadership Consulting, LLC,
President, is a sales leadership professional, skilled at
assisting sales organizations on how to drive exponential
revenue growth and build profitable business.
Anthony has led the creation of this community institute
that focuses on helping current and future sales leaders. The
purpose is to affect people productivity and efficiency by
making informed choices and taking timely action.
Anthony spent more than 15 years as head of sales of three
major F500 companies. As a regional vice president of sales, he
has guided thousands of frontline B2B salespeople and sales
leaders towards optimum performance levels. He is recognized
as an expert in sales execution, sales analysis, compensation
strategy, recruitment, channel management, revenue creation,
performance leadership, training and sales forecasting.
As a speaker, Anthony Chaine knows how to energize and
electrify his audience. He teaches sales strategies that drive
personal and organizational productivity, growth, and
collaboration. Anthony is a professional member of the National
Speakers Association.
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You can catch up with Anthony here:
Contact Anthony
www.asalesleader.com