How to Train Your Team in Client-Centric Selling

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Client-centric selling is a sales approach that focuses heavily on understanding the client’s needs and addressing them rather than the traditional approach of pushing for sales quotas. 

The idea behind a client-centric approach is that if you make clients happy from the very start, sales will come more easily, and you will also get a steady stream of referrals. 

A client-centered approach is essential in today’s marketplace because it fosters trust, builds long-term relationships, and increases customer loyalty.

We’ll explore what client-centric selling is, how to develop a customer-centric sales program, and what goes into one. Finally, we’ll describe what you can do to ensure the success of customer-centric selling moving forward. 

Shortcuts:

Understanding Client-Centric Selling

Developing Effective Customer-Centric Training

Core Elements of Client-Centric Selling Training

Continuous Improvement and Accountability

Measuring the ROI of Client-Centric Training Programs

Understanding Client-Centric Selling

Today’s customers are different from those of the past. For that reason, traditional selling methods aren’t as effective as they used to be. 

The internet gives today’s buyers access to instant information and customer reviews. In many respects, customers have likely already done their homework on what you’re offering. 

Nonetheless, they may not have connected is how your products and services will meet their needs. That’s why client-centric selling can be a game-changer. 

What Is Client-Centric Selling?

Most people are familiar with the traditional sales approach that focuses on a product’s features and benefits. 

The goal is to play up the features and convince the customer that their lives will be better if they buy it. When you detect that a customer thinks they can’t live without the product, it’s the green light to go in for the close. 

By contrast, a client-centric sales approach involves more listening and less telling. It requires active listening skills, interjecting with lots of empathy, and demonstrating how you can tailor solutions to their unique needs. 

Benefits of Client-Centric Selling

Your clients will feel seen and heard when you leverage client-centric selling. They’ll quickly feel that you care about them and you are more than a sales pitch or a notch in your sales quota. 

Zendesk says that the customer experience is vastly different than it was just three years ago. The company states that 52% of customers will favor a competitor after having just one bad experience. Zendesk suggests that salespeople must be constantly listening so they don’t miss important opportunities for new clients. 

When you use an approach that truly caters to your customers, they’ll know you pulled out all the stops to show care and concern for them. This approach makes for satisfied customers who are sure to be loyal for many years to come. 

Client-centric selling is also an advantage for sales teams. Your teams will become more skilled in this approach over time. It won’t be long before they see themselves as trusted advisors, which will boost your team’s morale overall. 

Ultimately, your company will also benefit as your teams drive new revenue by aligning your products with the customer’s needs. 

Transitioning to a Customer-Centric Approach: Addressing Challenges

A career in sales requires having a strategic mindset about how to approach clients. Longtime salespeople may have difficulty shifting from product-first to client-first selling. 

Some people are resistant to change, especially if they believe their usual approach works just fine. It’s the adage, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

The key to overcoming resistance to a modern sales approach is to educate salespeople about how technology has changed customers’ mindsets. 

Once salespeople are on board with trying something new, they should be more receptive to learning new sales strategies and boosting their commissions along the way.

Developing Effective Customer-Centric Training

As with any sales training curriculum, you’ll need to set clear goals for what you want your salespeople to take away from the training. 

A good first step is to take some time to consider what skills, knowledge gaps, and attitudes your teams already have, so you won’t waste time going over things they already know. Finally, you’ll need to consider what resource materials you need to proceed with the training

Define Clear Goals

It’s not enough to teach salespeople to pay closer attention to their clients’ needs.  How can you be sure your salespeople are using the client-centric strategies you’ve taught them? How will you evaluate their sales performance?

It’s important to be clear with your sales teams not only how you want them to sell, but what outcomes you want to see. 

Some sales goals to consider are:

  • Improved client engagement
  • Increased number of sales appointments
  • Increased sales revenue
  • Better closing rates
  • Better retention rates
  • Decreased customer churn

With this task behind you, you can focus on assessing your teams’ readiness for client-centric selling.

Assess Team Readiness

Every salesperson has a different background and skill set. They can learn a lot from you and each other. 

A spreadsheet is an effective tool for taking stock of each sales team member’s skills. 

Start by creating a column on the left with each salesperson’s name. Add headings for skills, skill levels, knowledge gaps, and attitudes. 

Use a 1-5 scale or some other rating process to get a bird’s eye view of each salesperson’s talent. 

This information should help you craft an informative customer-centric sales program that your salespeople use to hit the ground running.

Tailor Training to Your Industry

A good introduction to your sales program is to emphasize the unique aspects of your market and client base.

Explain and expound upon why a customer-centric sales approach can be especially beneficial in your industry. 

For example, insurance is personal for many people because it affects their homes, cars, and livelihoods. A customer-centric approach tells them that you care about their everyday lives and what could happen to their loved ones if they die or experience a catastrophe. 

Invest in Resources

Next, it’s time to think through your training sessions.

Here are some things to think about:

  • Will you need to reserve a conference room? 
  • Can you create the program yourself, or will you need a professional’s assistance?
  • Do you need to create slides?
  • Is it helpful to give materials to each salesperson? 
  • Will this be a group session or an individual e-learning module? 
  • What kind of format will you use for question-and-answer sessions? 

A screen-sharing tool like CrankWheel can play multiple roles in sales training. 

By leveraging screen sharing to share your teaching materials, sales students can get a feel for how the tool works in practice. 

You could also devote a section of your training to giving salespeople an opportunity to try out the software as they take turns role-playing the salesperson and the customer.

Screen sharing works exceptionally well for remote or hybrid meetings where some salespeople attend on-site while others attend off-site. 

Once salespeople start selling on their own, they’re bound to face challenges. With screen sharing, you can easily share your screen to target their problem areas clearly. 

With the mechanics taken care of, you can devote your time to building a training program around the core elements of client-centric selling.

These are practical steps that will ensure a productive sales training program. Screen sharing will help to ensure success with your training, as it’s convenient and impactful for sales teams. 

Core Elements of Client-Centric Selling Training

Take your salespeople through the core elements of client-centric training to give them a well-rounded view of how to engage their customers with this new approach. 

Understanding the Client’s Perspective

Your salespeople may have heard of active listening, yet they may not understand how it works or how to make it effective.

Explain the following techniques for active listening and provide examples of each. 

  • Being fully present
  • Asking open-ended questions
  • Exercising patience
  • Withholding judgment
  • Summarizing the customer’s perspective

Role-playing is a good way to demonstrate active listening strategies. 

Impress upon your salespeople that in hearing their customers out, they should be asking pertinent questions to uncover their pain points. As pain points surface, encourage your teams to use storytelling and role reversal as a way of building empathy. 

Refining the Customer-Centric Approach

Once your salespeople have some experience in using customer-centric sales skills, they’ll need to know how to utilize them to solve the customer’s unique needs.

Provide real-life examples salespeople are bound to encounter and show them how they can demonstrate value through tailored solutions.  

Building Trust

The best sales will not be effective without transparency and authenticity. Encourage salespeople to be themselves and be self-aware of any weaknesses or biases. Customers will see right through a salesperson who isn’t being genuine. 

Objections are a standard part of selling, but salespeople shouldn’t see them as a bad thing. Train them to use extra doses of empathy when facing objections and rely heavily on their training to help overcome them. 

Effective Communication

Have you ever wondered why ads are short? A study by WARC showed that clear, concise messaging commands more attention than longer ads. 

This isn’t to say that salespeople should keep their messaging short and sweet. Rather, it means to pitch your product in simple terms the customer can understand without resorting to lots of repetition or salesy talk. 

Effective communication also means leveraging non-verbal cues to build rapport. Train your salespeople in the art of using their body language and how to detect it in their customers. 

Continuous Improvement and Accountability

Your training program is not complete without following up with your salespeople to ensure they’re staying on track with client-centric selling. Old habits can resurface for those who apply the strategies half-heartedly and those who fail to transition to the new approach. 

With that in mind, we’ve come up with some follow-up strategies to keep the momentum going so salespeople can see the results for themselves. 

Provide Ongoing Coaching and Feedback

Some salespeople will embrace the opportunity to learn new sales strategies and be eager to try them out. Others may have a lukewarm attitude about it and may not employ the full benefit of their customer-centric sales training. 

You can get ahead of the game by touching base with salespeople individually after their first few attempts at using customer-centric practices. 

Here are some specific questions to get at the heart of your team’s customer-centric sales skills:

  • Which customer-centric sales skills did you use in your presentation? 
  • Which of the skills do you find to be the most valuable? 
  • Did you feel you used the skills smoothly?
  • Did you encounter any hurdles when leveraging the strategy? 
  • What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are in using customer-centric selling? 
  • What can I help you with to master customer-centric selling? 

Check in with salespeople regularly to discuss their progress and challenges.

Create a Culture of Learning

While rejection is a normal part of a sales career, it can bring the most seasoned salesperson down occasionally. It’s essential to celebrate their victories and acclaim their success. 

A lackluster performance may indicate a need for a little extra sales training or mentoring. A few tweaks here or there can yield big results. 

Some salespeople will inherently be better than others at client-centric selling, either because they have naturally good people skills or because they are eager to try something new. 

Either way, peer support can be a valuable tool for picking up those who don’t catch on as quickly. Those who are less successful than others may pick up a few tips during role-playing as they hear how their peers handle their presentations. 

Gather Feedback from the Teams

While you’ve done your best to develop the best customer-centric sales training program, your salespeople may have valuable feedback for how you can improve future trainings. 

Remember that they’re the ones with boots-on-the-ground experience. They may highlight certain issues that you are unaware of in the trainer role. 

Salespeople may not be openly forthcoming with certain topics, especially if they feel they’ll be singled out or judged. An anonymous survey on the effectiveness of training will help to identify learning gaps and areas for further development.

Measuring the ROI of Client-Centric Training Programs

As you transition to a customer-centric sales approach, you may not see results right away (but then again, you might).

Refer back to your original goals and track your sales teams’ results using metrics and KPIs over the short and long terms.

Salespeople should see some immediate results in the short-term and longer-term growth in customer lifetime value and sales revenue.

By sharing measurable results with your teams, you can actively demonstrate how transitioning to a customer-centric approach affects the company’s bottom line.