I’ve always been a customer advocate and truly enjoyed the six years I spent managing our client services department, so when I was asked to move into a sales role at Anderson Direct Marketing I was honestly scared to death. I never imagined myself in a position that would require selling, much less one where I’d be blogging about it.
But with support and encouragement from the company’s owner, I ventured into the world of direct marketing sales. This is when I learned the difference between a transactional sale and a consultative sales approach.
Here’s the difference. A transactional sale is a simple, short-term sale in which the customer already knows what he needs, so little to no product knowledge is required on the sales side. Typically, these are product-based rather than service-based. Buying criteria usually hinges on price or ease of acquisition. Consultative selling frequently works hand-in-hand with value-added selling, in which a salesperson presents customer-specific benefits related to their product or service. In the consultative approach, we collect information about the prospect's wants and needs, present the perfect strategy that caters to those wants and needs. This is customer advocacy at its highest level.
At ADM, the objective is focusing on our customers. Using a consultative sales approach provides the products or services that best meet our customer's needs. Looking out for the customer's best interests develops long term relationships. The trust that develops in this type of relationship provides dividends in the future and can even bring further benefit in the form of referrals down the line.
Whether it’s our full service, vertically integrated direct marketing services, commercial and digital print capabilities, or mail service production we do one thing better than any direct marketing company around: focus all our resources and energy on delivering a strong, irrefutable ROI that goes straight to your bottom line.
