Do You Sell Shallow or Deep?

By Suzanne Burgess

Whilst some salespeople are simply too laid back to care, most salespeople who stay in the shallow water do so because they lack confidence at some point in the sales process.

Shallow selling, i.e. just doing the bare minimum without too much personal effort is pretty easy. That’s when you go to see a client and sell them the easiest “solution” you have available – perhaps your entry-level sales offering. You know how to sell it, the client is already interested and it’s pretty much a slam dunk. In contrast, deep selling requires much more personal effort. You really need to get to know your client and thus you need more selling skills in order to be successful – and you could sometimes be “dumped” quite badly if you make a mistake in the sales process. So you take the easy route and go shallow. And all of this much to the frustration of your sales manager who knows you could have doubled or trebled the value of the sale had you really applied yourself!

So what’s it to be? Shallow selling, which let’s face it, is also the fastest way to make commission but really only meets the client’s most basic needs; or deep selling, which could take you much longer whilst challenging you to be committed to deliver the very best solution your client needs and deserves?

At your next sales meeting go around the table and have each person share their view on whether or not they feel that they truly address their clients’ needs and help them make the very best buying decisions possible each time they make a sale.

Discuss the obstacles that are perhaps preventing your team from always being in “deep selling” mode. Might it be the ‘quick buck’ of sales commission that is having an unintended consequence?