Being a business owner is tough. It takes a lot of hard work to launch a business and to stay in business. Many business owners look to B2B sales consultants to help increase sales, optimize marketing efforts, and provide strategic input from an external perspective.
As a sales consultant, you are being trusted with someone’s most precious life work: their revenue development. Business owners seeking help with sales strategy look to you for guidance on their products and sales plan and it’s up to you to point them in the right direction utilizing your B2B sales training expertise. Like any relationship, it takes work, time, effort and trust. Your clients are putting trust in you to deliver. As a sales consultant, it’s important to work with the client to exceed their goals.
To create a successful relationship, there are several things you should consider. Here are six things clients value most from a sales consultant.
1. Outside Objectivity
Being objective in your approach is key to ensuring the success of your relationship with your client. A client doesn’t want to feel like you are pushing things at them, or constantly “selling” your B2B sales training resources to them. They want your honest, outside, objective feedback on strategic issues. Use your expertise to give them what they deserve and forget any hidden agendas.
2. Responsiveness
We’re all flooded with emails, calls, texts etc. these days. Everyone is busy. That doesn’t give you an excuse to not be responsive to your client. If your client is wondering if you fell off the face of the planet, or wondering exactly how to get in touch with you, they might start to distrust your abilities as a sales consultant. Your client wants to feel like they are in good, supportive hands. Respond quickly and respond kindly. If for some reason you cannot respond to a client, let them know you might be delayed or have another consultant from your team respond.
3. Personal Experience and Examples
As humans, we are naturally drawn to storytelling. The immense power of narrative helps tell stories and create genuine connections among people. To establish yourself as an expert in your field, people want to be able to relate to you through personal experience and examples. Don’t be afraid to open up a bit and share personal stories, successes, failures, and moments that changed your life. By telling stories, we start to trust one another and relate to them on a different level.
4. Honesty
Be honest with your client. Tell them what others don’t dare—give them the straight talk that they need to hear to make their business succeed. It does you no good to sugar coat things and have things fail. Be bold and kind. Constructive feedback is a learning experience for both parties, so be honest and help refine your client’s goals, so you can assist them in being successful.
5. Flexibility
Things change, sometimes on a whim. Meetings get canceled or rescheduled. People change their minds about an idea. Being flexible is key to having a successful relationship with your client. Having a flexible structure is just one way at building a killer consulting firm. It will make both of your lives easier and you’ll be better prepared to deal with whatever comes your way. Be open to new possibilities and flexible with changes.
6. Discretion
As mentioned earlier, the client is entrusting you with their baby: their revenue growth. They want to know that you are trustworthy and can be discreet with confidential information, before they share all their company secrets. They want to know that you have their best interests in mind and can be discreet regarding information about company culture, finances, ideas and more.
Keeping these six tips in mind when working with a client will enhance your relationship, so that your clients trust you, enjoy working with you, and utilize your resources. This improves their ROI and increases the likelihood of a renewal. Additionally, satisfied customers will recommend you time and time again. By using these tactics, “selling” yourself will be done by satisfied customers, as a personal recommendation will be all you need to keep your sales funnel full of new prospects!
