Technology changes, business models change, buying processes get more complex… and yet many people still sell almost the same way they did ten years ago. It’s not that they “lack sales technique”; what’s missing is the decision to keep up with the market’s pace.
Today’s customer has already read spec sheets, compared vendors, and talked to peers before sitting down for the meeting. If we keep showing up to pitch products, repeat slides, and talk features, we become replaceable. The real value of a consultative seller lies elsewhere: helping the customer think better about their decisions, putting their problems in context, challenging assumptions, and prioritizing what matters. That requires understanding the business—not just the technology; asking uncomfortable but valuable questions; and connecting the dots to EBITDA, risk, and operations—not only “solution performance.”
At the same time, the world is putting tools into our hands that many salespeople still keep at arm’s length: CRM data, analytics, artificial intelligence, automation. They didn’t come to replace the consultative seller, but they will leave behind those who refuse to use them. The time we don’t invest in learning how to research an account more effectively, prepare for a critical meeting, or synthesize what happened in a buying committee ends up costing us later—in poorly qualified opportunities, painfully long cycles, and unreliable forecasts.
The uncomfortable question is simple: when was the last time you took a hard look at how you sell? Not the product, not the pitch, but your habits—how you prepare, how you listen, how you use the CRM, how you ask for feedback, how much time in your calendar is truly dedicated to improving the way you work. Obsolescence doesn’t happen overnight; it sneaks in when we stop learning and start repeating ourselves.
At mb&l Consultores, we work precisely on that: helping high-tech commercial teams stop being “talking brochures” and become business partners for their customers. We do it by training real conversations, integrating technology into day-to-day work, and supporting habit change—not just delivering theory. If you feel you’re selling very modern solutions with a way of working that isn’t quite as modern, this might be a good moment to pause, take a look at yourself, and redesign how you sell. And if you’d like to do it with support, let’s talk.
