Business to business (B2B) technology and data sales are rarely straight forward.

The ability to understand and address nuances is what sets apart a regular ‘order taking’ salesperson from one that earns the trust of senior decision makers and goes on to create value for customers.

So a popular directive from sales leaders (as well as trainers and coaches) to their teams is to be ‘consultative’ or ‘consulting-led’ in their pursuits.

Ultimately the goal (or should I say the hope) is to ensure the product or service they sell is fit-for-purpose, creating value and isn’t just what is on the ‘back of the truck’.

A standard approach to being consultative is to dig deep on needs, gaps, budget, timing and so on.

But to have meaningful conversations and to become a trusted advisor, your salespeople need to go beyond being just ‘consultative’ with the technical, functional and financial requirements.

They need to get to the...