Sales and Marketing Training in Malaysia | Use the Right Sales Approach

Today’s customers have no desire to waste their limited time with salespeople who cannot provide tangible value. They have less need to be educated. And they are not at all inclined to deal with sales reps who are more intent on selling a truckload of widgets than they are on solving the customer’s needs. So today’s salespeople have to use the right approach when dealing with today’s buyers.

As much as things have changed, as much as buying and selling have evolved, the right approach remains a customer-focused approach. Today’s sales professionals still need to ask questions, listen to the answers, and confirm understanding in each and every dealing with their customers. They also have to be conscious of where the customer already is in the sales process. They have to understand—and appreciate—how much legwork the customer has already done. But, perhaps most important, they have to remember that the customer is still at the center of the right sales approach. Top-performing sales professionals make it known to their customers that the buyer’s needs come first. They put the customer’s needs before their own, and they are determined to help solve the customer’s problems. They understand their primary role is to help their customers achieve their desired outcomes.

This focus has to be at the center of any sales approach—and it has to be genuine. Top performers aren’t putting on an act when they tell their customers that they want to help them find the right solution. They sincerely want to help. Good thing, too, because today’s savvy customers can tell when sales reps are insincere. They can sniff out when a sales rep is more focused on making a sale than on providing a solution and helping the customer.

So, instead of launching full-bore into a scripted sales approach, top performers use a customer-focused approach. They seek to have a full understanding of the customer’s needs because they know that it is those very needs that drive buying and selling opportunities. In order to address the customer’s needs, you need to get to know your customer, digging deep so you can discover what it is that’s driving the purchase decision; what the customer values most; and what his needs, priorities, and goals are. Despite all the changes in buying behavior, that hasn’t changed.

In fact, it’s more important than ever. Asking questions in order to discover more about your customer’s known and unknown needs, actively listening to the answers, and understanding where the customer is in the buying process are critical components of successful selling to today’s buyer. Only in uncovering this crucial customer information will you be able to devise the right solutions that meet his needs. Only then can you bring your expertise, insights, and ideas to the table, helping your customer in ways your competitors simply cannot.

Buyers might well have access to more information than ever before. They might well do more research and, as a result, have a better sense of the solutions that can help them meet their needs. But that doesn’t mean they’re always right or that they’re not open to other ideas, further insight, or useful advice. That’s where you come in.

Our research shows that buyers value those sales professionals who can bring these attributes to the sales process. No longer can you just ask the customer what he wants and fill out the order form. It’s critical to show the customer that you can be of value as a knowledgeable, helpful sales professional who will carefully evaluate the customer’s needs, offer credible insight, and provide valuable advice.

It’s in this that you demonstrate what makes you different from— and better than—the competition. Top-performing sales professionals are well-educated about their own products and services. They know their organizations inside out. They also are well-informed about their competitors and their industry in general. In asking thoughtful questions and actively listening to the answers, they develop a deep understanding of their customers. As such, they become the point of differentiation. You can do the same.

As a top performer, you can offer added value in your expertise, uncovering of unknown needs, offering of insight and advice that you—and only you—can provide the customer.

You might like to believe that your company offers a truly special product or service, one that is so unique that no other organization comes close. But the truth is that as quickly as your company offers a new feature, your competition is trying to one-up you. However unique you think your product or service is, your competitors are working on replicating that same product or service—and trying to go you one better. The one thing that you can offer that no one else can is yourself. Customer-focused sales professionals who succeed in today’s changing marketplace understand that they can provide unparalleled value in the form of their approach.

Of course, they also understand that knowing their customers at a deep level and offering sage advice can’t take forever. Today’s customers are busier than ever, and there’s nothing that turns off a customer more than a sales professional who wastes their time. Top- performing sales professionals respect their customers’ limited time. They take the time to plan for each and every selling conversation. They engage in the right activities before, during, and after every sales interaction in order to maximize the limited time they have with their customers.

Besides, helping you to save time (for yourself and for your customers), but it’s important to note for now that sales professionals should use their time wisely by, for example, researching their customers so that they don’t waste precious moments asking for information that easily could have been found out ahead of time. They also should take the time to prepare presentations that are carefully tailored to each customer’s needs, avoiding superfluous information that has little or no bearing on the precise solution that will meet the customer’s objectives.

Respecting the customer’s time, offering keen insight, providing helpful advice, understanding that the customer might have already done a substantial amount of legwork—all of that plays into using a customer-focused approach to sell to today’s buyer. It also helps customers perceive you as someone they can rely on and someone they can trust. And in a day and age when customers might not need you as much as or in the same way that they once did, that perception is crucial.