I hope you laughed at this cartoon. Indeed, the cartoon is all-too-accurate: what are we trying to sell our prospects?
We are so busy trying to get them to agree with us and close a sale, that we sometimes don’t know what we are selling.
Are we selling them a solution so they will solve a problem? A new gizmo so they can do a better job? An additional tool kit to add to what they already have? A solution to replace an old one that doesn’t work so well anymore? Something they didn’t know they needed? Something they know they need but don’t think they want?
Do you know who buys you and why? Do you know why some prospects close and some don’t? Do you know why it’s best to approach one prospect one way, and another a different way – or do you just be You all the time and don’t reposition yourself according to each situation? And if you do the latter, are you just selling You?
What’s the difference between selling and helping someone make a buying decision? And how do you expect buyers to understand you if you are presenting your data into their belief system without them determining how to buy in to a new solution?
Just asking 🙂
sd
If you are looking for help discovering the answers to some of these questions, I can coach you.
4 thoughts on “What are you trying to sell?”
I never sell, I solve. When you go in with that approach, you may discover a better sale than what you expected.
kenny: you have nothing to solve until the buyer has gone through their internal, private, and off-line decision issues. if the two department heads are having a fight about who pays for your solution, or the tech team decides they want to try doing it themselves, or if the internal work-around is good-enough for now and changing would cause too much disruption, there is absolutely nothing whatsoever you can solve. you're an outsider. you've got a solution for when they have figured out how to manage all internal stuff. then you can solve. otherwise you'd close a lot more sales. you're still focusing on the sales end of the equation, and it's lacking.
I never sell, I solve. When you go in with that approach, you may discover a better sale than what you expected.
kenny: you have nothing to solve until the buyer has gone through their internal, private, and off-line decision issues. if the two department heads are having a fight about who pays for your solution, or the tech team decides they want to try doing it themselves, or if the internal work-around is good-enough for now and changing would cause too much disruption, there is absolutely nothing whatsoever you can solve. you're an outsider. you've got a solution for when they have figured out how to manage all internal stuff. then you can solve. otherwise you'd close a lot more sales. you're still focusing on the sales end of the equation, and it's lacking.