Selling Mistake No 3 – What you think your selling isn’t what they’re buying.

There’s a very simple rule in sales that most of first get wrong. What we do is work out the product or service we have to sell and then work out how we sell it to people. We try and work out how to convince them that they need what we have to sell.

The simple rule of sales says, work out what people want to buy and then sell that to them. Makes sense, doesn’t it.

So, what do you do if, like me, you already are in a business with a definite product or service and you need to get people to buy it from you. What you have to do is work out what it is about your product or service that they want and sell that to them.

STOP. You think this just means working out features and benefits. This is wrong. These are the starting point and unfortunately for too many people in business they are the ending point. Having a benefit for your customers only works if that benefit is actually something they need.

Imagine that you have a professional photographer. Is an automatic flash really a benefit to this person? NO. The professional photographer wants to control the lighting and decide for him/herself what lighting should be used.

To work out if the feature and benefit you have to offer is something the prospect wants to buy you have to ask some questions. Asking questions establishes the need of the prospect.

The fatal mistake salespeople make even after they have worked out that they need to be asking and not telling, is that they don’t ask questions that establish that the needs the prospect has fits the benefits they are trying to sell.

Let me make this clear. Work out the feature. Work out the benefit this offers. Work out the customer need that matches with the benefit. Create a question to establish if the need exists. Then go on to question more to become crystal clear that the need of the client is solved by the benefit you offer.

I refer to these sorts of questions as funnel questions. They start broad and then more and more defined. I use a simple way of remembering the different levels of questions: Mining, Refining, Defining. Mine to see if the need is exists. Refine to get clear that the benefit you offer matches the need. Ask Defining questions to specifically bring solution to the prospect’s problem all together.

Many people ask me how they can get more help from me, knowing that I have limited positions available for one on one clients.. I established a local coaching workshop each fortnight, but I know that doesn’t work for those of you not on the Central Coast of N.S.W. So soon I will be establishing an Inner Circle programme. 

This programme will consist of a monthly conference call full of interviews with business owners and coaches, business strategy, sales and marketing tips, performance coaching, team and executive development and whatever comes our way. There will also be a more detailed weekly Business Improvement Tip and a CD of the month. 

I’ll let you know as I get closer to our start date. It will be available to anyone anywhere. But I am a bit stuck. I would love your feedback as to what you think being a member of my Inner Circle program is worth each.

Looking forward to hearing from you.