Going deep into consultative selling interactions (2 of 4)

In part one, we understood that we first have to find a prospect who is open to discussing how a new CRM system can benefit them, and then find general pains that we are able to solve before we can get deeper into the conversation. I called the first of these “Finding Interest” (simply enough) and the ladder one “Basic Understanding”. The next step, then, is what I call “Deep Understanding”, and that is the main topic of this article series. In this part of the “deep understanding” phase, I will talk about general topics of discussion that lead to this deep understanding.

The main difference between the “Basic Understanding” phase and the “Deep Understanding” phases are that in the former one, we talk to the prospect about pains they have that are generally solvable by the functionalities of most CRM systems. In the “Deep Understanding” phase, instead, we talk about issues that allow us to understand what makes this specific prospect’s pains unique. This understanding is what makes it possible for us to customize the system and improve their processes, something a “standard solution implemented in a standard way” can not do. This is where consultative selling differs from transactional selling in a fundamental way.

Another way of seeing is that in transactional selling, we are just trying to find someone who is interested in a type of product and then trying to differentiate ourselves by talking about our product and in what ways it is better or different than the competitors’ products. In consultative selling, however, the approach is the other way around. We start by looking at what our prospect and what makes their situation unique, and then propose a customized way for them to improve it.

In my view, “Deep Understanding” is a collection of different aspects that we need to understand about our customer that will help us achieve this customization to their unique situation. I will go through each of these different aspects below.

There are generally 5 topics that are applicable to the deep understanding phase. These are:

• Understanding their timeframe commitments and reasons to keep them…

… so that we can understand the real driving forces behind their needs.

• Getting information about their decision making process and influencers…

… so that we can see what different needs different people have and address them all.

• Where we stand compared to our competition and what they like/dislike about them/us…

… so that we can get a deeper understanding for what they are really looking for, and giving it to them. And finally,

• Getting deep, personal pains…

… which means that we get really personal and to the point where our contact says “I am worried that..” or “it is frustrating when…”, so that we see the true reasons they need a system so that we can solve the real problems.

While the above topics of conversation were mainly tools to get a better understanding the direct pains that the customers suffer, the last two aspects of deep understanding that I will explain in coming chapters will be different in the sense that they are not directly about the pain. Instead, they are about helping the company reach it’s overall strategy, and how CRM can be a part of that. This is where we can really bring value to our prospect.