Selling Is Merely Helping Someone Do What They Want to Do!
Why would someone want to buy anything? If it is a thing, what will that thing help them do or be? People don’t buy a drill or other tool because they want the tool as much as what they want the tool to do for them. In the case of an electric drill, the buyer wants to make a hole!
If what you’re selling is a service, what will that service provide as a benefit to the buyer? And most importantly, why now, and why should they buy from you and not someone else? An excellent way to think about the career of sales is to think about it as a job to help people get something that they want, or maybe help them understand the benefit of something they didn’t know they wanted.
I remember a sales coaching situation with a salesman who was discouraged and struggling. In context, this same salesperson had great success early in his career and now found himself unsure of himself, and getting more no than yes. Getting a yes or a no is many times a function of timing, connecting on key needs and because it will provide a feeling or outcome the prospect desires. If we just consider the selling ratios and compare calls to closed sales, in this case the closing ratios were high early which gave a false impression to the salesperson. The compensation for early success is when the “no sale calls” begin to catch up later.
We were calling on a prospect that had already said no to the opportunity we were presenting. These are some of my favorite calls, because most of the time the prospect has already let there defensive walls down, because we acknowledge the no. Our goal is to have an open and honest discussion.
During the planning phase I asked the salesperson “why would the prospect want to buy our service?” to which they responded “he doesn’t want to buy, he already said no!” But “Why WOULD he want to buy?” After several iterations of this question the point was getting through. What outcome would having our service provide for the prospect that the prospect would understand could help them achieve some of their personal and professional goals. It wasn’t about our service as much as it was about how our service would help them achieve a goal they already were struggling to achieve.
In our call we started with “I know you are not interested in our service, but was hoping you could help us understand what we could present differently in the future.” Upon discussion, we learned more about the current state of operations and the struggles that the management team was having to cover all their responsiblities. As the prospect declared his lack of manpower to do current assignments he pointed out that another assignment would just make it worse. Need identified.
Apologetically, we missed the need. It was clearly our mistake for not understanding the customer and tailoring the presentation to show how our service (1) pay for the manpower to convert to the new systems, and (2) create additional savings for adding even more manpower. Through alignment of systems and processes, reducing some of the fixed costs, and increasing the output of the existing team, the service would help the management team achieve their goals quicker and more completely.
It won’t work for every time or every person, but understanding why a prospect “would want to buy” will be a big step toward creating a mutual win-win solution. Listen to the prospect and they will tell you what you need to know! Why they would want to buy!
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