One popular approach to sales is Consultative Selling.  It's not new, it's been around since the 1960's, but it has since been formalized, complicated, examined, defined, refined, simplified and criticized. My book, Baseline Selling, included three elements: examined, refined and simplified.  One of the many misunderstandings about Consultative Selling occurs when people confuse it with consultants and people hate consultants more than they hate attorneys!  The standard definition/joke about consultants is that they ask for your watch and then charge you to tell you what time it is.

One of the best definitions of Consultative Selling came from Sales Development Expert Terry Ledden, who was my guest on this week's edition of Meet the Sales Experts.  He said, "Consultative Selling means don't push ideas and solutions untl you've had a chance to have a more collaborative conversation." Terry had some great advice about selling in various cultures around the world, as well as the changes you can make to your sales approach and your sales force to improve effectiveness. 

You'll love hearing how Terry got his start in sales - everyone can apply the unique approach he took to selling more cars than everyone else!

Listen to this week's show.  Contact Terry.

(c) Copyright 2010 Dave Kurlan