How to Use Consultative Selling Techniques to Get That Great Sales Job
How to Use Consultative Selling Techniques to Get That Great Sales Job
This year is going to be an interesting oneas the economic outlook means that the number of job vacancies and promotions are likely to be even less than was the case last year. Capital Economics, for instance, recently forecast that employment in the UK will decline by 0.7% over the coming year, having declined by 0.2% over 2010. An increasing number of firms, across a wide range of industries, are tightening their budgets despite hopes of an economic recovery. So it's going to be a very difficult employment market in general, however...
...Selling skills are still in huge demand and you can still command great earnings if you get the right job and apply a great selling technique!
So what's the right job and what are the right skills to have or develop?
Well, today's top paid B2B selling jobs have changed in recent years. Employers in all industries are looking for consultative selling skills, rather than a track record of traditional Feature-Advantage-Benefit (FAB)' selling. They now pay much more attention to these new skills when recruiting sales professionals or reviewing their existing work force. The great news is that the following things are true about consultative selling skills:
1) They can be learned much quicker and are much easier to use than you might think.
2) Once learned, they can be very quickly applied to any industry and will widen your opportunities for progression and promotion.
3) They can be used to convince a potential employer to buy from you and they work in any situation, hence, your success in getting a job with these skills won't just depend on you being pushy, overly confident, or having a stunning trophy cabinet!
4) These skills are completely missing in about 90% of the people you're competing against for a top selling position!
Developing Your Brand and Selling Yourself
Developing a great selling career requires you to develop your brand and to actively sell yourself as a solution' to an employer's specific critical and urgent needs. This can be done both inside and outside of your existing (or potential) organisation.
Inside Your Current Organisation
If you're already in a selling position, the key elements of accelerating your career in terms of promotion and earnings inside your own organisation are:
i) Increasing your selling performance
ii)Developing your brand at the level above your immediate boss
Developing your personal brand at the level above your immediate boss is crucial because this is often the decision-making level for promotions! To develop your brand and sell yourself at that level, you need to adopt a consultative selling approach and sell yourself. This means understanding pressures and trends that affect the decision maker for your promotion; and what he or she wants to achieve over the next year. Then (and only then) communicate the benefits and advantages that your achievements and skills offer your prospect' in the context of his or her world.
This may sound strange but you have to turn yourself into a solution that satisfies the most pressing needs of the decision makers in your organisation. The more pressing the need and the more compelling your solution is, in terms of what you have to offer, the quicker you'll get promoted! Also remember, you have to identify, and sell to the real decision maker for your next promotion and to any other key people who will influence the decision to give you that job you really want.
By the way, if you haven't already, you should develop a senior mentor, or champion', in your organisation to advise you and sponsor you for your next promotion. A mentor is someone who is an ally at the right level but not in your chain of command.
Outside Your Current Organisation
You should also develop a network of contacts at the level above your own or, even better, at two levels above your own in other organisations. If you want to develop your career, develop a network of people who you know are on the way up - not people at similar or lower level who you can boast to.
Developing and Targeting your CV
You CV is a sales proposal in its own right and should be sales-opportunity specific. Don't just pitch a general CV at organisations or senior managers. Your CV should be full of what you can offer and what you've achieved (even if this is your first selling role), not your responsibilities. Remember it's a sales proposal so they are looking for a clear statement of the tangible value you are offering them. Again, align your offer to their pressures, challenges and needs.
Getting Into Selling for the First Time
The great thing about today's selling job market is that there's such a shortage of people with the right skills. That's because 90% of sales people out there are old-fashioned FAB sellers. So if you can convince an employer that you have developed consultative selling skills, they'll often be interested!
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