Don’t Be a Salesperson — Be the Customer’s Assistant Buyer.
Don’t sell them — It’s much easier to help them buy
Photo by Wasa Crispbread on Unsplash
It’s no question that salespeople like to talk.
We’ve all encountered one or more that would talk you out of the business, to the parking lot and you must close to car door before they stop.
Too many salespeople believe they can wear the prospect down with a barrage of facts features and benefits.
Features and Benefits are Important
Just a quick definition of each.
A feature is what a product has and the benefit to the customer is what the product does for the customer.
I don’t buy a 1-inch drill bit because I want the bit — I want a 1-inch hole. Two half-inch drill bits won’t get the job done.
The benefit is what will sell me — not an endless tirade of verbal regurgitation.
Customers Buy Benefits
My first rule of advertising and marketing is “When logic and emotion come into conflict emotion always wins.”
Rarely is logic used in making decisions. If that were the case grocery store shelves would be empty of everything that’s not healthy.
There would be dead mice and dead bird cat food. That’s logical.
Those are the things my cat brings home.
While buying the product might be logical for some customers the salesman has the challenge of turning that logic into emotion.
If you have kids, dogs, or elderly parents a car with four doors is logical.
No one buys a car with four doors. They buy the benefits of having a car with four doors if they have kids, dogs, and elderly parents.
Selling Isn’t Talking — It’s Asking
Selling is a lot like Columbo solving a murder mystery. “Just one more question.”
The guilty party is the best product with the most benefits to meet the customer’s emotional needs.
The questions are designed to eliminate the other suspects. Those would be the products that don’t fit the customer’s emotional needs.
Stop Being a Salesperson and Close More Sales
Some people look at sales as a scam, a manipulation, a way to entice the customer to buy something they don’t want or need.
To combat this misinformation, you must stop being a salesperson and become the customer’s assistant buyer.
You’re both on the same side of the table.
The salesperson’s job is to establish needs and find the best product or service offered to fill those needs.
Therefore, the person asking the questions is always in control of any conversation.
What Questions to Ask?
Questions do two things. They confirm the need for a specific product or service and eliminate others.
Once need is determined through questions. Then the demonstration of features begins, and the emotional part of the sale takes place.
I was fortunate to speak to hot tub dealers at a convention and I sat in on a gentleman doing a seminar on swimming pools.
Very informative.
He described how many salespeople show customers a pool for $30-$40 thousand dollars. He has a pool costing $80 thousand.
So how does this work?
Showing all the benefits of the pool impresses the customer but it’s out of their price range.
So, he starts reducing the price by taking benefits away from the customer.
A less efficient filter system for example.
As we all know fear of loss is always more powerful than expectation of gain.
So, the customer might end up with a pool in the $45-$50 thousand range and still have the best they could afford.
Some people might say he took advantage of a customer's weakness. Fear of loss.
How?
He sold them a better pool than they had been shown simply because more benefits were shown to them.
The reduction in price was still a combination of them getting the most bang for their buck.
The emotional pull of having just a little bit better pool, to begin with, would nullify the price over the life of having the pool.
What if they had bought the cheaper one? Over the years would they have regretted what they passed up?
No way to tell but I bet they might wonder from time to time. Would you if you were in their shoes?
This is why being an assistant buy to your customer is so important. Sell your customer the same thing you’d sell to your brother or sister.
Some Final Thoughts on Selling
You have products and services in your business that people need. You have products and services that people want but may not need.
We want it but we don’t always need it. That’s why the logic vs. emotion argument is a critical part of sales.
If you can sell the emotion, then the logical will take care of itself.
Your customer will create a logical argument to support his or her emotional decision.
Take on the new role of “Assistant Buyer” rather than “Sales Associate.”
Do that and I think you’ll be happier with your month-end check.
If you’d like to see more information like this, then please take a moment and subscribe below.
Don’t let the fear of losing out on the paid subscription influence you too much. And please share this with other business owners and your salespeople. Thank you.