Complex solutions require sales professionals to have in-depth technical expertise. Sales engineers and other technical sellers are knowledgeable about the features, specs, and implementation requirements of a product or solution. But they’re not always the best at converting prospects into customers.
Many technical sales professionals lack the consultative selling skills to identify buyer wants and needs and to translate product features into benefits that align with those objectives. They may also need insight into a customer’s market and competitive situation.
Consultative sales skills include developing rapport, listening actively, asking probing questions, and presenting solutions with value. These skills transform sellers into strategic advisors and help them develop long-term, profitable customer relationships.
Targeted sales training and sales coaching can turn sales engineers into high-performing sellers. Here are three steps to help your technical sales professionals develop consultative selling skills and close more deals.
See how Flow Control Group transformed technical sellers into trusted advisors and unlocked new opportunities.
1. Follow a Standard Sales Process
Technical sellers can be like walking encyclopedias. Their knowledge is incredibly important, but if they’re “feature dumping” during a sales call instead of probing for needs and building trust, the prospect is less likely to convert.
A consistent, repeatable sales process can help technical sales professionals harness the knowledge they have in a powerful way. It gives them a framework to qualify prospects and progress each through defined steps to close.
With a customer-centric sales process, your sales engineers or technical professionals will learn to investigate the prospect’s challenges and long-term objectives. This allows sellers to identify product features that will appeal most to the buyer.
With that information, they can position the solution properly. By showing long-term value that aligns with customer needs, the seller can convince the customer your solution is the best choice.
BONUS: Technical sales professionals generally prefer systems and procedures, making it likely that they’ll embrace a sales process and follow it consistently.
2. Adapt to the Buyer’s Behavior Style
Every customer makes purchasing decisions differently. Your technical sales professionals may be saying all the “right things” to a prospect, but if they’re not saying them in the “right way” it may not matter.
Communicating effectively with buyers starts by helping your technical sales professionals gain a greater sense of self-awareness. A sales assessment such as the Brooks Talent Index® is a great tool for this. The results help each seller understand their default communication style—and how they can adapt it to be more effective in a selling situation.
Once your sellers know their own behavior style, you can help them identify the customer’s communication preferences and how to tailor their approach to match. They’ll be able to speak the customer’s language—and close more deals because of it.
3. Deliver Sales Coaching They’ll Respond To
Every seller is different, but those with scientific, engineering, or technical backgrounds tend to be logical, literal, and linear. Sales leaders can coach much more effectively if they keep these traits in mind.
Logical Sales Professionals
When you present something new to a technical seller, they will likely respond well to an argument that is clear, sound, and reasoned. That means sales leaders need to provide a well-thought-out justification for anything they ask their team to do.
The old “because I said so” doesn’t work for anybody, but it’s especially ineffective with these sellers.
Literal Sales Professionals
Technical sales professionals tend to take words and ideas at their absolute face value. This means sales leaders need to present information in an objective, factual, and non-judgmental way.
If you’re using a story or case study to prove a point, don’t use too much color commentary. Instead, be prepared to spell out the lesson or take-away.
Linear Sales Professionals
Technical sellers tend to be highly organized and prefer working methodically, according to a system.
This orientation can go one of two ways. It can mean they’re consistent and follow through on their commitments. Or it can mean they suffer from “analysis paralysis.” It’s up to the sales leader to keep them on track.
A sales assessment solution can help sales leaders understand their sellers’ preferred behavior and communication styles to coach in the most effective way.
Help Technical Sales Professionals Develop Sales Acumen
Improving your technical sales professionals’ performance starts with helping them follow a sales process, understand how to communicate effectively, and present the value of your solutions in the most effective way.
With the right training and coaching, your technical sales professionals can leverage their deep product knowledge and develop the selling skills they need to be seen as strategic advisors. When customers view your sellers as trusted partners instead of product specialists, they’ll develop long-term, profitable relationships.
Find out how sales training from The Brooks Group can help your technical sales professionals improve prospect and customer interactions by using a consultative sales approach.
