ARE YOU CREATING VALUE OR SELLING PRODUCTS?
Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to end up only talking about your own products when you’re selling.
This demonstrates your engagement with your company and its solutions, but it doesn’t immediately bring value to your customer, and therefore won’t lead to sales success in the long run.
REMEMBER: Your customer is concerned about their own challenges.
While knowing the features, benefits, and value of your product or solution is, of course, very important in the sales process, your customer is most concerned about their own products, their customers, and how they can achieve better results. The customer is only interested in you and your product if it helps them develop, enhance, and sell their own solutions.
When you meet a new customer today, they will most likely be so far along in their buying process that they have already determined whether your products have the features they believe they need. So, the more you try to talk about your products, the less value you are adding for the customer.
ASK, LISTEN, AND UNDERSTAND
You should allow customers to open up about their business and expectations. The customer will appreciate that you show interest in them and their needs. This creates a good position for you to be in, and it builds trust.
The best salespeople are good at identifying customer needs, but more importantly, they are good at getting the customer to feel that they understand their needs and significance. It’s about more than just asking probing questions. Often, the customer knows their needs quite well, so it’s more a matter of showing that you understand them.
ACHIEVE SUCCESS THROUGH VALUE CREATION
The skilled salesperson can offer the customer new perspectives on how their business can become more successful. If you understand the customer’s needs, you can inspire and engage in constructive dialogues where you explore their opportunities together.
You should tell a compelling story that makes the customer feel they are solving a problem, succeeding better, or making more money with your solution. If you support your communication with research, industry insights, and cases that educate customers, you create trust that the benefits of your solution can be documented.
PRESENT YOUR SOLUTION ONLY AFTER 70% OF THE SALE IS COMPLETE
The presentation of your solution should not occur until 70% of the sales conversation is complete. Only when you thoroughly understand the customer and have inspired and explored their needs can you tie your arguments together as a solution to their challenges.
Be a passionate advocate for what you sell. But wait until you have shown genuine interest in understanding your customers. Only then are you a good salesperson!
TAKE ACTION ON YOUR COMMUNICATION TODAY
It’s important, perhaps even the most important thing for sales success, that you improve your ability to create value for the customer and not just focus on the solution you are selling. Take up the challenge, and do something about it today.