Chemical Engineer who ended up using consultative sales and marketing methods to survive. Try turning red wine into white wine by talking product features.
Customers want to have conversations i...mehr sehenChemical Engineer who ended up using consultative sales and marketing methods to survive. Try turning red wine into white wine by talking product features.
Customers want to have conversations in their language, not a bunch of technical mumbo jumble we use internally at work. When your time is spent discussing applications, consultative based selling is a natural fit.
My story begins as an application engineer for Osmonics in MN. A manufacturer of membrane separation equipment and components.
The journey of 20+ years launched me into numerous roles in sales, marketing and the other dark side, IT. As a small company growing quickly we promoted from within.
We were a sales and marketing driven company aligned by the needs of our customers. Pulling ourselves up by the boot straps. Doing many things well, and our own share of failures along the way. Learning both the good and bad from our errors.
We used consultative selling to determine if we could help the customer achieve their needs based on value. It goes without saying, no value, no project.
I was lucky enough to work in numerous industries and my job took me overseas. Forcing me to learn how technical words need to be translated into common words in any language, even english.
We need to focus on the customer and assist them to determine if our capabilities can help them achieve their needs based on value. Product details and technical "stuff" all come after the discovery phase in the buying cycle.
Fast forward and my role is helping to develop sales and marketing personnel to talk in a language their customers understand.
Looking back, it was my engineering background which helped me the most in aligning my sales and marketing skills and methods.weniger sehen