Every day the modern consumer is bombarded with ads. We’re told that these products will make us look better, feel better, and be better. The sheer density of advertising has forced us to train ourselves to simply tune them out. Consumers don’t want to be sold to. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to buy. As salesmen, it can be hard to walk the line between selling a product and advertising a product. How do you sell something to a consumer that doesn’t want to be sold to? With the right approach, this can actually be easy.
Get in the Right Mindset
Stop thinking of yourself as a salesman. You are now a repair man. Consumers buy because they have problems they want to solve. Your job, from first contact until close, is to help your customer fix this problem. A solution focused sales approach makes you come across as more agreeable, and can help you build rapport with your client. And if you break each sale into three separate steps, you’ll find it much easier to close deals.
Step 1: Identify the Problem
Customers reach out to you because they believe that your product will help them solve a problem. We spoke to a sales rep from Bottom Line Web Design to learn about how they identify their customers issues. They say “customers aren’t just looking for a website. They are looking for a tool. Some clients want to give their businesses a more prestigious appeal. Others are looking for an avenue to reach out to more prospective clients. Ultimately, we have to dig into their reasons for wanting to find a new website before we can begin offering a solution.”
Hubspot calls this process identifying pain points. What issues is your client struggling with? It’s not about selling something that is “nice to have.” You want to find an issue that is causing your client to pull his hair out in frustration. If you can identify something that they are really struggling with, then it will be very easy to position a solution to this problem as a must-have.
Step 2: Frame the Solution
Before you hop in an pitch your own product as a solution, you have an opportunity to ask the client more about what they have tried. Ask them questions like “how have you solved this issue in the past?” or “What’s your plan to tackle this moving forward?” Once the client has told you what’s worked and what hasn’t, you can pitch your solution. To go back to the website as an example, let’s say that your customers pain point was that they spent too much time on the phone answering simple questions and qualifying leads. You could show them how with a properly designed website, you can answer these questions before their client even picks up the phone to ensure that they are only getting leads that are already qualified and informed.
Step 3: Sell The Benefits
You know what the problem is, and you know what your client has done to try and address that problem. How will your solution change their day to day activities? This change is what you want to sell. Show them how much time they will save, how much money they could make, or simply show them how these headaches can go away. Make sure your client can picture what their life would be like with your solution. The benefits are what is going to turn them on to your product, and only after you’ve used these benefits to capture your interest can you go on to explain the details of how your product or service will make that happen.
Wrapping it all up
As salesmen, we tend to get fixated on the product. But in reality, it’s all about the solution. If you can position yourself as somebody who is there to help solve your clients problems you will get better engagement. You’ll have a relationship with your clients as more of a consultant than a salesman. You’re not selling a product, you’re showing your clients the potential reality of how your product can fit into their lives.
