Training presentation for PA Workforce Development Association

1. Engaging Business with Consultative Selling
Michele Martin, The Bamboo Project, Inc.

2. Let’s Connect!
 Name
 WIB Area/Organization
 Role
 What is one thing you’re passionate about when it comes
to serving your business customers? What do you pride
yourself on?

3. Michele Martin
 5 years HR/recruitment for
2 Fortune 500 companies
 20 years in WFD
 17 years as small business
owner using consultative
selling strategies
 Passionate about helping
my customers ask the right
questions to connect with
the right opportunities.

4. Agenda
 Building Blocks--AM
 Meeting with Customers—PM
 Develop personal 30-Day Relationship Plan

5. Logistics
 Questions
 Concerns
 “To do this well I need. . .”

6. Website
 www.michelemmartin.com/consultative_selling
 Username: pwda
 Password: pawork
 All slides and handouts
 Follow-up resources/information for implementation
 Questions/Issues that are coming up
 Follow-up conversation

7. SOME BACKGROUND

8. To implement successfully. . .
 Clearly articulated goals, priorities and outcomes
 Skills & Tools
 Work flow/systems
 Rewarded for using consultative techniques
 Time to change habits!

9. This training is . . .
 Based on the assumption that you have and are using
many of the skills it takes to create and maintain great
relationships.
 Part of a longer-term dialogue about what “business
services” and “business engagement mean under
WIOA.
 An invitation to conversation about what shifts we might
need to make to become more consultative.

10. Let’s Get Started!

11. Overview of Consultative Selling
Building Blocks and Process

13. If you want to build a long-term,
successful enterprise, you can’t
focus on “closing the sale.”
You have to focus on opening the
relationship.

14. Consultative Selling is NOT . . .
 Establishing rapport and getting businesses to like us
 Informing about our services
 Job development
 Getting customers to register in Job Gateway or sign up
for an OJT.

15. It’s All About Them!

16. Relationship First

17. Customer Experience

18. Help Them Make Good Decisions

19. Asking the Right Questions

20. Become Trusted Colleague

21. Intentional and Strategic

22.  Find:
 Needs
 “Hot Buttons”
 Trends
 Provide:
 Help (from customer
perspective)
 Customized solutions
 Insights
 Opportunities

23. Success=Continued Engagement

24. Which can lead to. . .
 Job development
 Getting businesses to register on Job Gateway
 OJTs
 And a lot more!

25. 3 Building Blocks
3 Stages

27. Phases of Engagement

29. So our KEY question is. . .
How are we using our offers and
interactions to engage with our ideal
customers and move them through the
phases of engagement--from not
knowing who we are to recommending
us to other businesses and partnering
with us to co-create?

30. Consultative Selling Stages

31. Plan

32. Interact

34. Ideal Customer Profiles
Deepening our Knowledge of Customer Types

35. “Trying to sell products and
services without understanding
your ideal customers is like
driving with your eyes closed.”

36. Profiles/Personas
 Describe a broad category of type of customers.
 Tell a story.
 Are like a “comprehensive how-to guide to reaching
your ideal customers.”

41. Some Key Elements
 Broad Description—Industry, Role in Company
 Key Quotes
 Unique Goals, Problems and “Hot Buttons”
 Hesitations and Objections
 Best ways to engage
 How do these ideal customers find you?
 What keeps them coming back?

42. Ideally. . .
 Done with WIB/CareerLink staff as an OVERALL strategy.
 Shared with everyone.
 Reviewed/revised on ongoing basis:
 Same customers?
 Where are the new markets?

43. Let’s Practice!
 Review your assigned profile
 Discussion Questions
 3 Key Insights

44. Create Your Own
 Ideal Customer Profile Worksheet
 Survey Information
 Focus Groups
 Interviews

45. How to Use
 Evaluate everything according to “What would that
ideal customer say/do/want?”
 To plan for interviews/meetings
 In strategic/operations planning

46. For Today. . .
Keep asking “WWRD” or WWMD”?

47. Stages of Engagement
From “Who Are You?” to “I’ll Do Anything for You!”

48. The Hourglass
 Way to look at entire
customer experience.
 Different messages, types
of information and levels of
contact for each stage.
 We must be strategic for
each phase.

49. Results
 More effective interactions
 Improved customer service
 Improved customer engagement

50. The Phases

51. As we review. . .
 Follow along on handout
 Identify some of your customers at this phase
 What problems/issues do customers encounter at this
phase
 How might we be disappointing them?
 What concerns do they have?

52. Phase 1: KNOW
 First impressions count!
 How do customers find out about you? Are you capturing your
leads?
 How inviting/welcoming are your interactions, website,
materials, etc.?

53. Phase 2: LIKE
 Do you seem to “get” their issues, needs, etc.?
 Do your interactions seem customized/personalized to
their problems?
 Have you overcome any initial negative perceptions
they may have about working with a government
agency?

54. Phase 3: TRUST
 Just because they like you doesn’t mean they TRUST you!
 Are you knowledgeable and credible?
 Do you ask questions that make them think and that help
them develop insights?
 Do you provide them with resources, information,
connections, materials, etc. that add value—whether or
not they are related to your services?

55. Phase 4: TRY
 What could they “sample” to entice them to actually
buy?
 What can we do that minimizes their investments of time
and/or their perceived risks?

56. Phase 5:
 When they’re ready to use a service—post on Job
Gateway, participate in a Job Fair, work on a
recruitment event.
 Expectations are everything! What expectations are you
setting? What are their expectations?
 How are you DELIVERING on your promises and
DELIGHTING customers with the experience?
 Every aspect of the process will influence their opinion—
can either move you forward or 3 steps back.

57. Phase 6: REPEAT
 Use the same services?
 Use new services (cross-selling)?
 How are you engaging with customers to uncover new
needs and respond?
 How are you continuing to engage with them to connect
to relevant resources, information and people—even
when they aren’t currently “buying” from you?

58. Phase 7: REFER
 How do you make it easy for them to advocate and
refer?
 How are you engaging them so well they are willing to
invest time in planning/co-creating with you?

59. Let’s Practice!
 3 Rachels and 3 Mikes
 Remember—WWRD and WWMD

60. How Do We Use?
 Think in terms of relationship building, not “selling”
 Plan our interactions more strategically, including
customer “Calls to Action”—next steps.
 Plan offers for different customer types/phases of
engagement.

61. Customer Offers
From Services and Features to Solutions and Results

62. Your Offer = What You Are Selling
 Newsletters, webinars, articles
 Events
 A conversation or meeting with you
 Post a job in Job Gateway
 Hire a job seeker

63. An Offer . . .

64. The Offer Has to MATTER to Them!

65. Messaging & Experiences Count!
What message(s) does a customer need to
hear and what experiences do they need to
have to move from one phase of engagement
to the next?

66. Impact of Proper Messaging
“Would you be
willing to donate?”
“Would you be
willing to donate?
Every little bit helps.
28% donated
50% donated!

67. Your Offers Should . . .
 Connect to ideal customer profile—(WWRD or WWMD?)
 Build relationships based on phase of engagement—
don’t be at “Buy” when they are at “Like”!
 Identify and encourage Call to Action—”Best Next Step”
 Overcome “Action Paralysis”
 Make it EASY
 Make it OBVIOUS
 Give them tools and resources to follow up

68. The Traditional Offer
 These are our services.
 These are the features of
our services.
 This is how our services will
benefit you.
 Do you want to buy?

69. And that can feel . . .

71. Traditional Offers
 Start with your services
 Emphasize features and benefits , rather than solutions
and results.
 Usually more “generic”
 Don’t always connect to customer problems, aspirations,
what they value and their stage of engagement.

72. The Consultative Offer
 This is where you’re at in
the process.
 These are your problems
and goals.
 These are your “hot
buttons.”
 These are the results you
need/want to achieve.
 How can I help?

77. Consultative Offers
 Start with customer problems and/or aspirations.
 Show your interactions and services as the solution to a
problem.
 Paint a picture
 Connect to customer “hot buttons.”
 Are personalized, based on your ideal customer profiles
and where the customer is at in terms of engagement.
 Identify results
 Are appropriate for the stage of engagement.

78. Ultimately, you want to . . .
Use your offers to keep them
engaged and to help them make
good decisions.

79. In consultative selling. . .
 We have offers for each phase.
 We have offers for different customer types.
 You can create initial offers, based on phase and
customer type.
 You can use conversations with customers to revise
existing offers and develop new ones.

80. Let’s Practice
 Use Offer Worksheet to design some initial offers based
on current services for your ideal customer (Rachel or
Mike)
 Work in pairs with someone who has same customer
profile.
 Compare:
 Other pairs with same profile
 Other pairs with different profile
 Insights

81. How Do We Use?
 Thinking in terms of offers restructures our approach—
gets us thinking in terms of THEIR needs, not our own.
 Plan initial offers based on customer profile and phase of
engagement.
 As conversation tool with customers—gives something to
react to/work with in interviews.

82. Building Block Insights
 How is what you’ve learned so far:
 Same as what you currently do?
 Different from what you currently do?
 How can you apply what we’ve learned so far to your
current work?
 What questions do you have?
 What concerns do you have?

83. Stages of Consultative Selling
Planning, Interacting and Follow-Up

84. “Failing to plan is planning to fail”

85. Do you plan before. . .
 Attending a networking event?
 Meeting with a new business customer?
 Meeting with an existing business customer?
 Responding to a call re: a job posting/filling a job?

86. Planning helps you become. . .
LESS
 Reactive
 Transaction-oriented
 Generic
 Focused on telling
MORE
 Responsive
 Relationship-oriented
 Customized
 Focused on asking

87. “Winging It” Won’t Work

88. You need clarity about. . .
 Customer Profile
 Phase of Engagement
 Goals for your Interaction—what do you want to
accomplish?
 Call to Action—What next step(s)?
 Power Questions you will ask
 Preliminary Offers

89. The Power of Questions

90. Questions that Lack Power

91. Let’s Practice!
 Customer Contact Planning
 Draw a Phase of Engagement
 With a partner who has the same profile, plan a meeting
with that customer to get them to the next phase.
 Make up any details you need to.
 Get with a pair that has the same profile and compare
notes.
 Get with a pair that has the other profile and compare
notes.
 What is the same? What is different? Why?

92. Meeting with Your Customer

93. Goals for Every Interaction
 Grow relationship and invite ongoing interaction.
 Get deeper into their world (not make them understand
our world).
 Learn something new about the customer, his/her
situation, needs, goals and/or trends impacting him/her.

94. 80/20 Rule
80% 20%

95. Listen for . . .
 Problems—Even (or especially) if they aren’t related to
workforce development
 Hot buttons—what they seem to most value
 Aspirations and goals—personal, professional,
departmental, company-wide
 Expectations—what will they be looking for in their
interactions with you?
 What they DON’T say--Sometimes they don’t know what
they don’t know.

96. Structure
 Establish/re-establish rapport (Profile+Research+Stage of
Engagement)
 Get to point of meeting (based on goals/CTA)
 Work through questions
 Clarify agreements and expectations
 Establish timeline/parameters for follow up
 Close with next steps on both sides

97. Documenting
 Pages 3-5 of Customer Contact Planning Form
 Take notes while they are talking, but keep eye contact
 After you leave, IMMEDIATELY review/respond to
questions so you don’t forget.

98. Closing the Meeting
DO
 Clarify all expectations and
timelines
 Promise (and provide!) an
email summarizing
discussion/agreements
 Keep the relationship open
—find a way to maintain
engagement
DON’T
 Promise anything you’re
not POSITIVE you can
deliver—UNDER-PROMISE
and OVER-DELIVER!
 Think you have to have all
the answers now—NOT
having all the answers
allows for customization!

99. Let’s Practice
 Get with another team that has your same profile.
 One person will be the interviewer, the other will play the
role of the customer.
 Go through the “meeting” based on your planning. The
two who are not assigned roles will be observers—look for
what works/what doesn’t work. Also monitor the
listening/talking ratio of both parties.
 Do the same with someone who has a different profile.

100. Debrief
 What happened?
 How did it feel?
 How did the customer feel?
 What did you learn?
 What came up as potential issues/problems?

101. Following Up
After the Meeting

102. Two Areas for Follow-up

103. Customer Follow-Up

104. 12-24 Hours: Know/Like/Trust
 Personalized LinkedIn Connection request (where
appropriate)
 Email with useful article, resource, connection, etc.
 Offer to deepen connection (where appropriate):
 “Learned a lot and would love to pick your brain over a cup
of coffee.”
 “Think you’d really enjoy meeting Jane Doe who’s dealing
with similar issues---maybe we could arrange a call with
three of us to discuss XYZ.”

105. Know/Like/Trust Ongoing
 Master the “ping”—regular contact schedule to
continue/deepen the relationship.
 Use LinkedIn to set reminders.
 Focus on adding value according to customer
perspective and values.
 How are you continuing to connect and add value for
this customer, even if he/she isn’t “buying?”

106. Try/Buy/Repeat: 12-24 Hours
 Are you the right solution? If not—focus on the
relationship!
 Follow-up internally (where appropriate)
 Email summarizing meeting and any new info
 Key agreements/expectations/timeline/other people
 Next steps, including planned next communication
 Provide customer with user-friendly documents/materials
that can make execution go more smoothly.
 Execute—make sure that what needs to happen is
happening.

107. Try/Buy/Repeat Execution
 Don’t disappear!
 Monitor what’s happening internally and pro-actively
identify and communicate about problems.
 Tell about problem AND solution at same time.
 Use “We can do better” language, not “Blame” language.
 Call first-time users of a service
 What worked? What didn’t work? How can we do better?
 Do relationship repair when customers are disappointed

108. Try/Buy/Repeat Ongoing
 How can you maintain contact with customer even when
they aren’t “buying” from you right now?
 How can you deepen the relationship—what step are
they now ready for?

109. Let’s Practice
 In pairs, discuss what follow up you would do after your
customer interview.
 Talk with another pair about their follow-up—what’s the
same? What’s different?

110. Following Up on Learning

111. Customer Learning Builds Relationships!
 Demonstrates empathy and understanding of their
business.
 Can become new source of credibility and “insider
knowledge”
 Creates new service and engagement opportunities.

112. Consultative Selling=Customer Learning
 What did we learn about that individual customer that
should be used in future interactions?
 What did we learn about that individual customer that
indicates they need something other than our services?
 What are we learning about trends and issues ACROSS
customers?
 New needs/challenges
 New goals/aspirations
 Trends in hiring/training
 Trends in business, industry

113. Regular Conversations About. . .
 What are we learning?
 What does this tell us about:
 Changes to customer profile(s) or focus on new markets?
 Issues with stages of engagement?
 Issues with execution?
 Need for new connections?
 New opportunities?

114. Share Information with. . .
 WIB/CareerLink staff
 Partners
 Customers!
 “Here’s what we’re learning from our customers”
 “This is what we’re hearing from healthcare providers”
 “We asked and you responded!”

115. Your 30-Day Relationship Plan
After the Meeting

116. In consultative selling. . .
 Establish relationships (Know/Like/Trust)
 Maintain relationships (Trust/Try/Buy)
 Deepen relationships (Repeat/Refer)

117. Your Plan
 Refer to individuals you identified during the Stages of
Customer Engagement exercise.
 Identify 2-3 individuals to:
 Establish
 Maintain
 Deepen
 Identify goals/strategies

118. What Are Your Take Aways?

119. What is ONE thing you will do?