Selling vs. Telling: The critical factor

Posted: June 6, 2012 | Categories: Sales

“There are two reasons people do things…the real one, and the one that sounds good”

–                          John Pierpont Morgan

 To be a top sales producer, we need to be good at learning what people want and whythey want it

 Recently, I was talking with a neighbor about yard work.  Bill, (not his real name) said that he could not understand why I put fertilizer on my 1 ½ acre lawn.  Counting the lawn care service and the $4 gallon gas that my mower uses, we probably spend well over $1000 per year, and that is just for the lawn.  As reflected in the J.P. Morgan quote above, I had two answers to his question.  First, the one that sounds good:  I respect my neighbors, and don’t want to grow weeds that will blow on their yard.  Doesn’t that sound nice?  OK, now for the real reason:  I like hitting golf balls in my back yard, and I love the feel of soft, cushioning grass as I walk along.  I imagine that I am playing on one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world.  Quirky, Huh?  Here’s another story…

A client of mine just spent nearly $2000 for hardwood mulch for his house.  He doesn’t like mulch, and he certainly doesn’t like spending $2000 for a bunch of old, ground up wood.  So what does he like?  As he puts it, “When I drive up to my house after coming home after work, I want to be proud of the way my house looks.  I want to feel good just looking at it”.  Is that feeling worth $2000 to him?  Yes.

Why is this important?  The whole sales process hinges on us finding out that emotionally driving factor that will be most dominant in a person wanting to buy our product or service.   When objections arise, we will always go back to what they said they wanted (like that feeling of driving up the driveway).  When we refer back to this dominant buying motive, we are in a much better position to sell.  If we haven’t uncovered this information, we run the risk of hearing that dreaded phrase, “Let me think about it”

So how do we find the dominant driver?  We ask for it.  What do we need to do before we ask?  Build trust so they are comfortable sharing their silly motive.

I leave you with this thought:  There were over one million drill bits sold last year.  Here is the funny part…there are very few drill bit collectors.  When people buy a bit, they have something they want it to do, and we need to make sure we uncover what that is.

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