The Trusted Advisor - How both buyers and sellers can view eachother with confidence
By Pat Stephens
Sales professionals today come in all shapes, sizes, and approaches. You’ll still run into the stereotypical salesperson who is full of reasons why you should buy their product even if you don’t need it, at all, for any reason. They’ve been trained in all the ways to get you to either say yes, or just cave in and give a weak yes so that the conversation can finally end! Then there are sales professionals who make you feel like you’re their best friend, and everyone loves working with those salespersons!
What the successful sales professionals in 2021 do not overlook is the simple concept of “client relations” and the impact it has for all parties involved. There are multiple aspects of the client relationship. For the purposes of this post, let’s keep it high level and straightforward.
The main goal? Both the buyer and the seller view the other as a “Trusted Advisor”.
Let’s explore!
First, from the buyer’s perspective (which is the perspective almost anyone can relate to as we’ve all bought something at some point while working with a commissioned salesperson), what’s desired? A buyer wants to:
- Know they seller has their best interests in mind
- Know the solution/product they’re investigating solves their need
- Know the solution/product they’re investigating fits in their budget
- ...and here’s the big one...FEEL like they can trust the salesperson
Through the course of the interaction, the buyer wants to have all the right feels - the feeling of knowing they are making a right decision, and the feeling of trusting what the salesperson has been showing, telling, and expressing. In a way, a salesperson becoming a trusted advisor is a direct result of how they make the buyer feel throughout their interaction.
So, from a seller’s perspective, how can the role of trusted advisor be applied?! Simple. The ONLY way to become the trusted advisor to the buyer, is to make sure that you get all the information from the buyer in order to give them that confidence and trust they are looking to feel in the buying process. Meaning, the seller has to then trust that the buyer is giving them all the information they need to be able to reach a positive outcome. The seller has to turn the buyer into a trusted advisor! And, the only way to do that so that the seller maintains their persona as the buyer’s trusted advisor, is to be forthright from moment one of the interaction.
It’s a perfect circle. And while it’s not realistic for a salesperson to walk into a conversation with a buyer and say to them, “Hey, let’s be each other’s trusted advisors”, that’s essentially what both parties will look to do, and what will lead to a positive sales process for both moving forward.
It’s a win for both, and creates the best outcomes, when the buyer and the seller create a “Trusted Advisor” client relations situation with each other.