Most salespeople follow a commodity sales approach.

They sound like a broken record in a world without many records. Yet, it's the same type of calls. The same emails. They lean on dated sales tactics that stopped working in the late nineties.

As I peek through my email, I see hundreds, if not thousands, of really crappy cold emails that serve no other purpose other than the salesperson's commission.

As Anthony Iannarino says, "If your sales conversations focus on finding a problem that fits your company's solution, you're still using a legacy solution approach."

In the early days of my career, this was me. When some junior salespeople join my team, this is them. But to be a truly great sales professional, you have to…

Develop unique Insights (I).

Great sales professionals are like consultants.

They've built a database of business acumen, situational knowledge, insight, and advice to help their clients succeed. "You can only be consultative if you provide counsel," writes Anthony, and the "modern approach requires arming yourself with insights and a certain perspective on what your client needs to do to improve their outcomes."

You can start to build your sales insights from two different areas:

1. Industry trends.

Look for trends in your industry and compile a small list of the trends, the implications of those trends on your prospects/client's company, and the advice you'd give.

2. Inside your four walls.

As a sales professional, your targets are experts in their company, but they don't see everything you see while working with many other companies.

As Anthony says, "It is impossible not to know what challenges your prospective clients are facing when you've been helping others deal with those same problems."

You can see things they don't.

Start by documenting what your experience provides in the form of useful insight.

Ask yourself, "What did you learn working with your clients over the last twelve months?"

Business acumen and situational knowledge get better with time, but you have to develop these insights on day zero.

Ask differentiation Questions (Q).

Your questions must be "artful and effective."

You sound like every other salesperson trying to extract time away from busy prospects without great questions.

No wonder your targets are so hard to reach; they've experienced so many people that can't add value and waste their time.

Commodity salespeople ask them questions like, "what's your biggest challenge?"

As a consultative sales professional, you should know their biggest challenges, or what will be their biggest challenges in the near future, and how to overcome them. 

Your questions, Anthony points out, should teach "them something about themselves, their world, or an idea that will help them make a better decision in the future."

Instead of "what are your biggest challenges?" you ask, "We tend to see the result being between x and y. Can you share with me what your results are like now?" and "Based on what I just shared, are you starting to see these forces impacting your business now, if at all?"

If you want to improve your sales results, improve your Sales IQ.