The Meaning of Consulting

The word consulting is defined as:

Webster’s Dictionary - Providing professional or expert advice

Dictionary.com - Employed or involved in giving professional advice to the public or to those practicing the profession

The idea of Consulting Sales is selling like a consultant, we counsel and advise people. This is all based on honor; if they trust you and believe that you would never advise them to do anything that’s not in their best interest, why would they work with anyone else.  This can take time; it’s not about “the sale", rather it's about building business that will never leave you.  This is a lifestyle, not a gimmick.

Doing business this way requires a belief and trust in the law of the harvest.  You reap what you sow.  So, if you put forth honest effort, good things will happen, it just does.  Sometimes our faith in this principle can waiver, because we think we know when good should be returned.  It will always be returned, but we don’t know when payday is.

As a consultant, we operate by a code of ethics and we will never do anything to put that in question. How can we council, advise or consult if we are not trusted?

Becoming a Sales Consultant

There are varying types of sales people I suppose; however, for simplicity I’m going to categorize sales people into two categories: the one who is trying to make a “quick” sale, and the one who is attempting to build a long term relationship with his/her client.  Now there is good reason that the first group may sell this way, for instance: straight commission, limited time with the customer, customer is making a quick decision, etc. Unfortunately, this type of selling can lead to unethical tricks and dishonesty.

I am of the opinion that in all cases, if we are completely honest with people, we will obtain enough business, and the business we obtain will be long term. Consider yourself, when you feel that someone is out for your best interest, rather than theirs, would you shop anywhere else?  Looking out for your client’s best interest means that if you can’t provide the best solution for them that you inform them of who can. Yes, you may lose a sale, but you will gain a customer for life.  At this point, when they believe you are looking out for them, cost becomes less of an issue and they will tend to do whatever you council them. This is what is meant by becoming a sales consultant.  

Does this type of selling work for all types of selling? I can’t think of a situation that it would not be effective.  If I were selling cars and a person came to my lot, and after interviewing them I discover I don’t have what they are looking for, but send them where they might have the car they are looking for, they will be more inclined to listen to me, and see what I can offer them.  Most likely, the customer already knows what is available.  It does no good to try and coerce someone into something they don’t want.  We all want to be cared for; your message is, “I will take care of you.”

"Disarmingly Honest"

I recently heard Roger Kemper use the statement “Disarmingly honest,” and it has spawned a lot of thoughts regarding the brilliance of this simple statement. Too often salespeople have a tendency to get defensive when our products or services are criticized by clients. It’s hard to take criticism, however the last thing an unhappy customer wants to hear is excuses, justifications, or worst yet, that it’s their fault. These are sure ways to lose a customer forever. I once worked for a very smart engineer who developed great products and was great with customers until they were unhappy, then things got weird. On one occasion we had a new product returned because it broke while being assembled. When my employer found out about it, he wrote this client a letter blaming him and even using such language that the customer “hanked” on the unit causing it to break. Needless to say the customer was infuriated and threatened to never do business again. I then got involved and admitted there was a flaw in the design, fixed it, and apologized; after all this he agreed to continue doing business with us.

 

The moment we admit, acknowledge, and own a problem any animosity goes away and solutions can be found. People do not want adversarial relationships; we all have enough of those. If our hope is to become a partner with a client, they must be able to communicate with us, openly and honestly without a fear of bad feelings. The object is not first to be right, but rather defuse the situation, and being disarmingly honest may be the best way to accomplish this.

"What is left when honor is lost?"

Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain - Unknown.  Sales people have such a bad reputation for being dishonest and untrustworthy; surely we can’t all be that way, therefore if we have integrity and work to offer solutions for people, we will have little to no competition. The relationship between buyer and seller almost always begins with some level of distrust, and our long-term success is predicated on our ability to close the distrust gap. Edward R. Murrow said, "To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful." The idea of being a consultant as a salesman can only be achieved on the foundation of integrity. Once integrity is established, your clients will do primarily what you suggest, because they trust you. However, once integrity is lost, we become just another dishonest salesperson. Publilius Syrus said, "What is left when honor is lost?"…..in my opinion, nothing!

"Why Not Me"

Following the Seattle Seahawks blowout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII Russell Wilson said, “We believed we would get here. At the beginning of the season I told our guys, ‘Hey, why not us?’ ”

Then he talked about what his late father had always told him.

“He used to always tell me ‘Russ, why not you?’ And what that meant was believe in yourself, believe in the talent God has given you even though you are 5-foot-11, and you can go a long ways. That’s why I decided to play football, and I wanted to go against the odds a little bit.”

Virtually all of us have the ability to accomplish great things and most of us, deep down, know it.  So why do so few of us live the life that most of us marvel at? Perhaps, if we asked ourselves every day, “Why not me?” we would overcome our doubts.  For most of us, we are our biggest critics, focusing on our doubts, with thoughts such as: “I’m not good enough,” “What do I have to offer?” “Who will be interested in my services?” Isn’t it time we start asking ourselves, “Why not me?” and when success comes, we can say as Russell Wilson “(I) we believed (I) we would get here.” Accomplishment starts with the decision to try.

Vision

Helen Keller said, “The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision.” It’s true that many with sight have little to no vision, no idea of what the future will look like when they arrive there. It’s for this reason that so few actually arrive anywhere of any significance in their lives. If we jump in our car with no real idea of where we are going, who knows where we will end up. The same is true with our lives, careers and relationships; we need a vision of what we want them to look like if we have any chance of getting there. Most of un invest in the future, whatever that may look like, and when we can see it clearly, we will then make the adequate and appropriate investments to arrive there.