If Athletes and Academics were to have a child, it would be the Consultant.
This seller sees their customer problems as a puzzle for him/her to solve. Because of this trait, Consultant sellers spend a lot of time deeply understanding the customer environment so that they may create a very tailored recommendation on how to go forward. That recommendation is generally argued by quantitative data that goes well beyond a standard ROI model. These argumentation models are difficult to dispute and that is one of the reasons that Consultants are so successful in selling.
Consultants are best suited to sell products that are data driven with measurable return on investment models or material risk of ignoring models. While prospects and customers can often get worn-down by Consultants, they also have a strange addiction to them, as the value they provide is inarguable, both providing new insight on their own business issues and artfully weaving in industry/competitive benchmarks that motivate the buyer to move. Consultants are often shepherded through organizational decision makers to articulate business proposals because of their knowledge set and focus on the goal. Consultants are most powerfully paired with the Conceptual seller. Think you’re a Consultant? Take the Quiz here.
All the wrong questions
