Jan
18

Do You Have To Know Everything About Your Solutions?

By

An interesting comment was made by a participant on one of my coaching/training calls when he was summing up Natural Selling. 

He said that it’s important to “portray yourself as the expert in the solutions you have to offer”. 

The question is – is it important? 

Many years ago when I was selling aftermarket automobile software to different companies throughout the world, two things I didn’t have was; 

The technical knowledge of how the software worked (only very rudimentary knowledge) 

And how a car engine worked! 

Now, many might consider this lack of knowledge a drawback. It wasn’t… because I took the expert with me! He had the technical skills, while I had the people and counsellor selling skills. 

So my job was to facilitate, guide and qualify the dialogue between ourselves and our prospective customers. My first job however, before we presented anything was to discover, listen for and talk about; 

What they had 

What they wanted (if anything) 

The level of importance, or their desire, to do something about it 

If a technical question came up, I deferred to my expert and then took the reigns back when it was appropriate. In terms of team selling it proved to be very powerful. 

You can do the same thing! 

If you think you have to be the person with all the answers (the expert) – you don’t! If you do, you’ll spend a lot of unnecessary time learning details and answering questions. More time doing this means less time connecting with new people. 

So instead here are two easy things you can do; 

1. Use Your Sales Aids As Your “Technical Expert” 

You have an abundance of sales aids, such as; 

3-way calling with those who have the knowledge 

Sending your potential partners to a special website 

Inviting them to a business call, and so on. 

Use whatever is appropriate to help the other person come to a conclusion or a series of conclusions that this is for them or not. And there is a way of doing this that I explain in my book and CD’s as well as my coaching and workshops. 

2. BE An Expert Guide Facilitator And Qualifier 

Think and look on yourself as someone who is the middle person (facilitator or guide) between your potential partner and what your company has to offer. This takes the pressure off you and them. It allows the both of you to have a meaningful dialogue without using any of those resistance causing presenting, closing and objection handling techniques! 

And remember, your first job is to qualify them and help them qualify themselves before deciding whether to Transition them into the Presentation Stage of the Natural Selling Way. 

To help you to have fearless conversation, check out my downloadable coaching program, How To Have Fearless Conversations… And Build Your Business Faster, Without Fear, Rejection Or Objections!

Liked this article? Read another similar article.

About the Author


Michael OliverMichael Oliver is an internationally recognized trainer, speaker and author and the founder of Natural Selling, the only sales training program designed to really eliminate rejection and objections. Visit his blog and signup free to get blog updates by email, along with the latest news, free advice, additional resources, and a lot more! Go now to http://naturalsellingblog.com. While you're at it, check out http://www.naturalselling.com.

You may reprint this article in your own publication or website, provided that you leave the content, the links, and the "about the author" section at the end intact.

Subscribe by email and get blog updates, news, and more!
Click the subscribe button and enter your email

subscribe

Comments

  1. I love the fact that I’m only asked to facilitate and use the tools to expertly explain the details. Thanks for the reminder Michael. Top-notch coaching

Leave a Reply

Security Code: