This is the key question for anyone looking to improve their company’s results.
If you don’t know why sales consulting can be important for your business, you run the risk of investing in solutions that don’t deliver results.
What is sales consulting?
Sales consulting is a process in which a sales specialist company helps businesses build sales strategies to generate greater productivity and results. In addition, it also acts with a critical and analytical eye, solving gaps and restructuring the sales team ‘s operations .
In this sense, we can say that it is to the organization what the doctor is to the human being. After all, he has a specialized clinical view of the matter.
You, as a company, say where your pain points are, and the specialized – and experienced – consultancy can relate the symptoms to the causes and effective treatment.
Especially by relating what was reported by the customer with the right KPIs (Sales Indicators) .
– My sales are bad.
– How is your attraction? What do you do to attract your leads ?
– Ah! I do almost nothing.
– So your problems start at the beginning of the sales funnel . If you don’t get many leads at the top, you won’t get many at the bottom. To fix this gap , the ideal thing is for you to do this, this and this.
If your marketing efforts are good and your company is generating a lot of leads, you need to check for other possible flaws. These examples are simple and obvious.
But many companies fail to see what is going on, especially when we talk about large organizations that have several processes in their operations.
The best consultancies make a complete diagnosis and can get to the heart of the problem, presenting solutions and proposals for improvement.
And they do this much more assertively than you or your sales manager . Consultants, like doctors, have a hierarchy to eliminate certain problems. They also know what the “diseases” are based on the symptoms presented.
Specializing in sales gives you the ability to prioritize where to look first to solve the problem.
Why hire a sales consultancy?
It is important to hire a sales consultancy because they will have a specialized view of your commercial operation , offering a systemic diagnosis based on an efficient methodology to improve sales processes and results .
If you look at your market , look at your segment china whatsapp data and realize that you could produce and sell more , but you can’t, then it’s a sign that there’s a gap in your sales process .
That’s why the role of consulting is so important, because it’s one thing to feel around or try to guess where your problems are.
– Ah! The salespeople don’t have the capacity.
– The product team is making mistakes in development or purchasing.
– The price is low…
You may have a range of opinions, but an expert gets straight to the point.
A good consultancy has a diagnostic methodology that highlights the main points to accurately locate the root cause of the loss of productivity.
This is because he has already seen dozens of situations similar to yours in other companies and segments and has a trained eye to make an accurate diagnosis.
He takes a look and sees.
So, to be more exact:
How can a Sales Consultancy help you sell more?
The most complete consultancies initially make a diagnosis and build all the solutions that are necessary to improve sales productivity.
This procedure must involve everything from processes and educational content to the search for new technological tools .
It also involves training salespeople and leaders.
You might be thinking: ah! Commercial management 3 steps to optimize your partners marketing budget in 2024 can do that too.
Is that really true? Can those involved in the operation see it completely, without even separating it from the emotional issues?
Let’s analyze!
What is the role of the consultant as a transforming agent for the company?
Serious consultancy begins with a systemic diagnosis, to understand the company’s problem in depth.
Many companies complain about problems that are actually only part of the issue or something very small compared to the core of the situation.
They get lost internally.
Therefore, the sales consultant is the person in charge of monitoring the company during the consulting process.
In a large company, the person who could take on the role of consultant would be the director. However, hiring a full-time director to solve the problem andorra business directory is more expensive than hiring a consultant.
Typically, top consultants are those who have previously run commercial operations.
In other words, assigning a director to this task is very expensive. And for him to be able to dedicate himself completely, his other functions will be left unsupervised. A sales manager will hardly have the experience and expertise to develop projects of such complexity.
Many companies think about hiring someone from outside to give the environment a new “air”. This may be useful for a short period of time, as it can shake up the operation, but it is unlikely to last long term. Think about it, one person will only have one view of your problem. In a consultancy, there are several people – specialists – thinking together. This is a big differentiator.
The consultancy has several competent professionals, with experience and great success stories .
This generates a great advantage, including in relation to commercial directors, as they may even know more about the specifics of their own business, but the consultancy can provide more possibilities for solutions.
1. The problem with Sales Consulting
The big problem with many sales consultancies on the market is that they are limited to the conceptual part. They are very theoretical and not very practical.
They usually come with off-the-shelf content and apply it to the company. In addition to not personalizing the topics, they provide generalist content.
But this is a mistake, because customized service is extremely important. The Kolb Cycle shows that people learn in different ways and that there is a learning cycle.
Basically, the Kolb Cycle is a way of understanding each individual’s best way of learning. It has a cyclical structure with four aspects: acting, reflecting, conceptualizing and applying.
By using it, it is possible to understand which learning style works best for each person. As it is cyclical, the process is always restarting itself, in constant development. This is extremely important for self-knowledge and organizational knowledge .
Consulting firms in general do not complete this cycle, because they do not go into the field.
Consultants need to have practical experience and bring their knowledge to the point of sale, to the Route. Good consultancies are not limited to the theoretical part. They go to the POS/Rota to understand the challenges and operations of the company. There is no point, for example, in talking about generic approach issues; they need to correct their mistakes at the point of sale.
Thus, consultancies are able to transform learning into action, resulting in change and results.
2. Commitment to RESULTS!
An efficient sales consultancy must be committed to your company’s results!
But many don’t do it and don’t get their hands dirty! You can’t just present a classroom solution.
If you hire a company that is not committed to results, consulting becomes a utopia. You will think that things are working, that people are motivated, but what has changed after all? Where are the numbers?
To have numerical control, the Consultancy must have its own methodologies that promote results. And I’m not talking about the percentage of hours spent executing the project, I’m talking about the results of the client’s business .
So, to be good, consulting needs to have three essential characteristics:
- Be committed to Results;
- Be a sales specialist ;
- Carry out a systemic diagnosis of the commercial operation.
About being a specialist, I know we’ve already talked about this and that you know that this is one of the characteristics of a sales consultancy.
But we need to talk about this again, because many companies confuse business consulting with sales consulting . And the difference between them makes all the difference in what you are looking for when hiring a consultancy.
What is the difference between Business Consulting and Sales Consulting?
The difference between business consulting and sales consulting is simple: just imagine two doctors. One would be a general practitioner and the other would be a specialist in a particular subject.
When you have a serious health problem, what do you do? There’s no point in going to the general practitioner; you need to go to a specialist.
The specialist is someone who has a deeper knowledge about that problem, as they dedicate most of their time to resolving issues in that area, and even so, they have a systemic view of other areas of your body.
Let’s suppose I have a serious stomach problem and I seek out a gastroenterologist to identify the causes and treatment. Obviously, this stomach problem could be a consequence of another area of my body.
The gastroenterologist needs to have a systemic view of my body, but he must understand a lot about the stomach.
This is the big difference between a business consultancy and a sales consultancy.
Business consultancies are more generalist. Some do strategic planning , skills building, training, leadership, etc. In other words, they are involved in several areas of the company.
But they have no depth in any of them.
Do they deliver results? Yes! There are good business consultancies.
But if you have a specific problem, in the case of sales, a sales consultancy is much more effective.
Business consulting is a general practitioner, generally looking at the main areas of administration: Finance, HR , Sales, Marketing and Production.
Consulting specialized in sales, on the other hand, looks more deeply into the sales area, which a business consultancy does not do.
This does not mean that sales consultancy does not look at other areas. On the contrary, to be good, it needs to have a systemic view of the whole, precisely to identify what is hindering the company’s sales productivity.
To make it clearer, let’s understand what this systemic vision would be like.
What does Systemic Diagnosis mean in sales?
Systemic diagnosis in sales is the structural view of the system. In other words, the analysis of the whole to understand how it affects and interferes with the area being analyzed. It is one thing to analyze an individual flowchart , but another thing to analyze it with an interface in other areas.
It is complex to do this and many small consultancies do not do it.
Furthermore, each segment has a specific need. It is important to understand this as well. A consultancy needs to be experienced! Experience is something that cannot be replaced.
Because even if you read the entire methodology, you won’t be able to connect the dots that need to be connected. It’s not just about collecting data, it’s about knowing how to accurately read it.
But it is natural for companies to have doubts about the need to hire a consultancy, especially a sales consultancy.
This, in a way, is due to bad experiences that managers have had, whether in their own company or in other organizations where they have worked. One of the biggest complaints about consulting services on the market is precisely the fact that they are very theoretical.
Let’s analyze in more detail whether your company really needs this partnership.
Is it worth hiring a sales consultancy?
You have to think about it this way, what can they do for your company that you couldn’t do on your own?
Let’s talk about 3 important points when hiring a sales consultancy.
1. Sales Specialists
The first thing is that they are experts in the field.
In other words, they know more about it than anyone else, because that’s all they do and they’ve seen the situation in different scenarios.
Generally, those who are within the company are limited to that segment or at most two or three, who have had contact due to their professional trajectory.
Consulting brings new visions and solutions to different businesses, such as retail, industry, technology, real estate , etc. Thus, it can combine different ideas, seek solutions and propose innovation.
2. Neutrality
Another issue is that the consultancy is neutral.
What does this mean?
That it is impartial, and this is essential in a company. Because there are many situations that have to be resolved within the organization, especially political issues.
In some cases, the company’s own employees see that they need to be structured, but this can affect the egos of certain areas.
And political issues within organizations, especially medium and large ones, are very complicated.
The consultancy’s neutrality can minimize these impacts.
Have you heard about the story of the 18th camel?
In short, a man died and left an inheritance of 17 camels to his three sons, which was to be divided as follows: half to the eldest, 1/3 to the middle one and 1/9 to the youngest.
But the brothers could not divide 17 camels by 2, nor by 3, nor by 9. To do this, they consulted a wise lady who, in order to resolve the conflict, decided to give her camel so that the brothers could make the division. Thus, they were left with 18.
Dividing, the oldest son got 9, the middle one got 6 and the youngest got 2. And there was 1 camel left over, which they returned to the lady.
In other words, they didn’t need the 18th camel. But without it they wouldn’t be able to settle the bill.
The lady, acting as a consultant, is able to see outside the situation and find a solution that those who are emotionally involved cannot find.
And in this case, people create less resistance, because it wasn’t someone who imposed it, it was the process itself.
If it were someone within the company, ego issues and insubordination could create obstacles to compliance with the rules.
3. Focus
And the third important point is the willingness to solve the company’s problem.
The consultant is focused on this. A person in the company, for example, may even be able to construct a good diagnosis and prescribe the right medications.