In the “good old days” of selling (if there ever were any), a lot of sales people reveled in their “information advantage.” Prospects and customers relied on sales people to educate them on products and solutions.
Those days are long gone, customers are self-educating on the web. They no longer have to rely on sales people for that information. Unfortunately, too many sales people are stuck in the past. If all they can do is pitch products/solutions, they have lost their information advantage. The customers are as knowledgeable (or more) than they. These sales people have lost the ability to create value with their customers.
The highest performing sales people continue to leverage their information advantage–but it’s not about their products, their information advantage is about what their products/solutions enable the customer to do.
Today’s information advantage focuses on the customer—what’s happening in their markets, what’s happening with their competition, what the customer needs to do grow, perform, and achieve their goals. It’s driven by a deep understanding of the customer goals and strategies. It consists of identifying opportunities where the customer might improve, opportunities they might be missing, opportunities where they can continue to outdistance their competition.
Today’s information advantage is sales people having collaborative, opportunity solving discussions with their customers. These discussions help customers think about their business differently. These sales people help customers recognize the need to change and how they can help the customers in the process.
How are you leveraging your information advantage with your customers?
