From selling solutions to challenging customers and prospects, there seems to be a never-ending barrage of recommendations for salespeople — tell a better story, bring insights, focus on solving problems … the list goes on and on. Most salespeople will benefit from these recommendations and improve in a variety of areas. However, we can’t always say the same for buyers. Many of the most popular sales tactics do little to benefit the buyers and some even put buyers and sellers at odds.
Moreover, challenging them with insights is great — provided that you know more about their business than they do.
And that’s about as rare as volcanic lightning.
Helping buyers solve their problems requires us to understand exactly what those problems are. Or does it?
How to Be a Valuable Resource to Everyone You Meet
The reality is that there is only one reason a modern buyer meets with a salesperson, and it isn’t to relieve their boredom or make a new friend. It’s because they need help. You see, all buyers who take the time to meet with sellers have a singular problem:
They don’t know which product or service they should buy!
Think about that for a moment. If a buyer knows exactly what they want, they rarely need to meet with one salesperson, let alone several. Most products and services can be purchased over the internet without interaction. Perhaps you’re thinking, “but they don’t know about MY product or service.” That may have been true roughly 20 years ago, but there’s so much product information available online today that they can probably learn as much about your product as you know. They may even find someone in their network who already uses it.
So, the only reason to meet with salespeople is to figure out which alternative is best.
This is the first or primary problem for every buyer we meet. Unfortunately for the buyer, most salespeople are so focused on their product or service solutions that they can’t help buyers solve their most basic problem – making an intelligent, informed buying decision. If the salesperson is driving to get deal, and the buyer is trying to figure out what’s best for them, there is a conflict of objectives from the very beginning of the relationship.
While this creates huge challenges for most sellers, it can create tremendous opportunities for those skilled at helping people make better, more informed buying decisions. When salespeople learn to think like buyers, they differentiate themselves throughout the buyer’s journey and transform their relationships. Not only do these people develop stronger, more sustainable relationships, but they will also deliver dramatically better sales results.
Want to learn more? Axiom provides a unique alternative to traditional sales training. Unlike traditional sales training events, we embed our methodology into your sales cadence, delivering dramatically better sales results. To learn more about our Mindful Selling Methodology, Kinetics Sales Effectiveness Platform, or our unique, guaranteed approach, please visit us at www.axiomsaleskinetics.com.