Two very different ways to use all your product and market knowledge

Hello Sales Reset Community

You know a lot about what you sell.

You have choices about using all your product and market experience and knowledge.

You can choose to lead two very different conversations with customers:

• ADVISING: You can use your knowledge to advise customers about the most suitable products and services for their unique needs.

• COACHING: You can use your knowledge to ask your customers some great questions and coach them to make better buying decisions.

How do you decide whether to advise or coach?

Here are some definitions:

• ADVISING: Making specific recommendations for action based on expertise, experience, or knowledge, with the explicit intention of guiding someone toward a particular solution or course of action.

• COACHING: A structured partnership that empowers stakeholders to discover their own solutions through questioning, reflection, and guided exploration. The coach facilitates learning and development without providing direct solutions.

For many reasons, coaching customers is MUCH more demanding and time-consuming than advising them!

When you become a skilled coach with your customers, you will move into the top ranks of the best salespeople in the world.

How to coach your customers

When time is short, or needs are simple, it’s often best to save time by advising your customers about what they need.

As needs become more complex, you can switch from advising to coaching.

The most common approach to coaching is described in Coaching for Performance. This book played a huge role in introducing coaching to the business world in the late 1980s with the GROW model of coaching:

• GOAL: “What are the outcomes you’re seeking"?”

• REALITY NOW: “What is the current situation?”

• OPTIONS: “What options do you have to move from Reality Now to your Goal?”

• WILL: “What will you do?”

In each of your selling conversations this week, clarify whether the customer’s goals are sufficiently well-defined as soon as possible.

If their situation is simple and has clearly defined goals, it’s probably best to advise them using your product and market knowledge and experience.

However, if things are not clear, try asking some coaching questions to help them better understand their needs.

Your principal coaching goal is to help customers define the outcomes they seek from a potential investment. What are their GOALS? You can then place these goals at the heart of your proposals.

As your coaching skills improve, your customers will be increasingly grateful for the value you bring to them.

In your midweek newsletter, we’ll develop these ideas further as we examine how you can coach your customers about all the implications of their goals.

Join our FREE community and LIVE! online workshops

Our new Sales Reset Together community is now meeting regularly. Click here to join and register to join our LIVE workshops to share experience and practice.

• Sales Reset Stories: Members meet to share their experiences and stories of this week’s Weekly Sales Reset theme. Every Tuesday at 4:30 pm UK time

• LIVE! Practice: We’re about to meet monthly to practice in small group role-play sessions using Zoom break-out rooms. On Thursday, November 7 at 4:30 pm UK time, our LIVE! Practice will focus on coaching customers.

We look forward to meeting you in our community and hearing your stories about coaching customers.

Have a great week!

The Sales Reset Team

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