Ever have a customer answer your sales proposal with the following statement, “ That is great, but how does that help me?” I have had this experience and had to use those same words with some sale people when they tried to sell me something.
This part of the sales process is where most sales professionals believe they need zero help. Unfortunately, most sales professionals need a great deal of help with this part of the sales process. To show this I ask people to sell me their product / service. This is where the attendees have a reflection moment.
Most attendees start with firing features and benefits in rapid fire, their elevator pitch, or how their product is so revolutionary like they are in one of those late-night infomercials. Unfortunately, this is an incorrect process in selling your product / service. The reason I know this is because I started out selling my products this way which drove my lack of sales. The customer does not care about how many features and benefits we have to offer.
What the customer does care about is how this product / service will meet “their needs”. That’s right! How does what we offer help them? That is the question our customers are asking. Each customer is different and has different needs which means we need to be smart about how we approach this part of the sales process. We can not simply rain features and benefits all over them. We need to answer their needs.
To effectively answer the customer’s needs, the salesperson needs to do the work in the first buying decision by asking great questions to uncover the customer’s needs. By asking questions we are able to actually understand the customer, what they are looking to achieve, and why they are looking to achieve it with this purchase. If we assume that we know exactly what the customer needs we typically miss the mark in sales.
You’re probably asking yourself how do I avoid this mistake? The answer is simple. By making sure that the question I am asking aligns with my features and benefits. That’s right I use the features and benefits of my product / service to roadmap questions for the customer. If the customer is saying yes to those questions, then we know that we are on the right track to help the customer. Simple right!
One more point here and this is a big point!
If the answer is no to most of my questions about my product / service. I quickly understand that what the customer is looking for is not what I offer and I point them in the right direction to meet their needs. That is right, if my product / service will not help the customer I am going to do everything in my power to help them find what they need. Most sales people are shaking their heads in disbelief, but they are wrong. See I am playing the long game with selling that builds influence. Influence that will come back to me ten fold later on.
If my current product / service does not help the customer and I help them find something that does, I have just solidified my value and gained tremendous influence with the customer. Even if they do not buy this product / service today, they will tell their friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc. about the service that I have provided and how I helped them. They will tell those people that they need to come talk to me. It has helped me time and time again with references and grow my sales in the long run.
Yes, this is an internal decision to focus on helping more than just selling our products / service. I chose this early in my career which helped me gain more sales than I could have ever thought possible. Customers have come to me years later telling me that someone referred them to me because I was the best and helped in such a way that they needed to see me first.
Isn’t that where we want to be? To be the person everyone wants to come to for a solution to meet their needs?
If you need support on making sure you are hitting the mark on this part of the sales process, or any others feel free to click here to see my online membership that gives you lifetime access.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”