CONSULTATIVE SELLING

GIVE YOUR SALES FUNCTION A COMPETITIVE EDGE

OUR APPROACH

ALIGNING YOUR SERVICES WITH YOUR PROSPECTS’ MOTIVES

How We Deliver This Service

Our approach to delivering this service includes these key phases:

  • Definition of your ideal client.
  • Review of our proprietary 7-stage consultative process.
  • Development of the core questions for each stage.
  • Development of messages and tools for each phase of the inbound journey.
  • Review of your scoping and proposal development process.
  • Coaching of your consultants.
  • Quarterly check-ins.
Definition Of Your Ideal Client

In this phase, we help you define the demographics and psychographics of your ideal client. This is accomplished through a brainstorming session with your top executives. For a more expanded and comprehensive ideal client development process, please see our Positioning marketing service. Demographics include their age, race, education level, title, tenure in their position, industry, experience and responsibilities. Psychographics include their top 5 goals, opportunities and challenges. The result of this phase is that you will have a clear barometer to judge whether or not a prospect fits your ideal client profile.

Review Of Our Proprietary 7-Stage Consultative Process

In this phase, we teach your team our winning consultative process. This is proprietary to The Shattuck Group and includes 7 key stages. We show your team how to navigate these stages and how to create anticipation at each stage so ideal prospects maintain keen interest through the funnel. We role-play with your team to demonstrate, at a high level, how messaging and strategy keeps prospects engaged throughout the funnel. The result of this phase is that your team will have an understanding of how to pull prospects through the funnel using a consultative approach that aligns with their interest and keeps them engaged.

Development Of The Core Questions For Each Stage

In this phase, we help you develop the set of questions that allow you to deeply understand your prospects and their underlying motives. We do this by brainstorming with your executives and examining the inbound journey of about 10 clients you have closed within the prior 24 months. Out of this examination, we create a question set that your consultants can use to develop documentation that will support effective and highly targeted scoping. The result of this phase is that you will have tools to help your team consistently deliver a meaningful and engaging client experience.

Development Of Messages And Tools For Each Phase Of The Inbound Journey

In this phase, we help you develop the best messages and tools for each phase of the inbound journey. The question sets will help you uncover needs. But the right tools and the right messages at the right moment will keep prospects engaged. For instance, every service firm needs proof statements that demonstrate that you can do what you say you can do. But when do you use these? If you show them to prospects at the wrong time, this can be off-putting and make you look like you’re simply pitching your firm rather than trying to help them address their goals, opportunities and challenges. The result of this phase is that you will know what messages and tools to use at defined points on the inbound journey.

Review Of Your Scoping And Proposal Development Process

In this phase, we review how you create scopes of work and translate these into proposals to be signed by your prospective clients. We have discovered, through a trial and error process over many years at The Shattuck Group, how to use question sets to develop Scope of Work (SOW) statements that ideal prospects cannot resist. The result of this phase is that you will know how to use the tools we’ve developed with you to create SOW’s that prospects eagerly anticipate.

Coaching Of Your Consultants

In this phase, we coach your consultants or other team members to actually deliver the entire 7-stage consultative process. Our preferred approach is to observe individual consultants by participating in conference calls and other points of contact with prospective clients. We then make recommendations about how to improve their approach at each stage of the process. We find that this individual coaching greatly increases the likelihood that they use the tools and processes effectively and consistently. The result of this phase is that your team will adopt the resources you’ve paid to develop and thus you’ll get a better return on investment.

Quarterly Check-Ins

In this phase, we check-in with your team on a quarterly basis to see what’s working well and what needs to be improved. We also look at your big wins and come to understand the messages and approach that shaped those wins. We do this by interviewing the team members who were involved in the big wins. We then package up the messages and lessons learned and share those with other team members. The result of this phase is that you increase knowledge across your entire team of how to win more deals and satisfy prospects.

See What Can You Expect for details about the outcomes of this service.

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