Are you a trusted advisor?
Jul 14, 2023
"We are trusted advisors, but our customers don't listen"
Sales Director Dilemmas - Orange Hat Thinking
Okay, first up, who decides the status of trusted advisor?
It's the customer
You may well have plenty of things that you can do to help them with...
... but just telling them that more often than not won't work as you are finding out.
We need to earn the right to share the information and to use it in a way which will help them
Many customers will perceive being told what to do as a pushy sale
even if it is with the right intent
So think about how can you position yourselves to be bestowed the honour of trusted adviser.
Some ideas include:
🔶 Thinking about their business and leading with a hypothesis that assists them
🔶 Asking better questions designed to help them make sense of things
🔶 Sharing resources that they can use to solve problems themselves
These are ways in which customers will want to listen more
The key to success in some projects is to 'slow down to speed up'
Take your time to earn the right to share information based on how you engage with the customer
🟠 Telling isn't selling 🟠
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