Another Rule to Help You #SellLikeYou

Principles have always guided my sales approach. They’ve given me the tools to actively solve problems and think on my feet in any sales situation. They’ve also allowed me to be creative and develop my own selling style.

I started this series a few weeks ago, and I’m continuing here with another rule to help you guide your approach and do your very best selling.

Rule #4: Think in terms of problems, not solutions

This is big, and if there were one way I could help you improve your prospecting and your tension creation (more on that later), it would be by getting laser-focused on the issue you’re helping your prospects resolve rather than the solution you’re providing them to help resolve it.

In short, nobody cares about your product. It might be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but a total stranger doesn’t have any context for it.

On the other hand, you’re probably only reaching out to people who have the problems you’re trying to solve, and most of those folks are willing to commiserate with someone about it, especially if they have some insights to help them get over it.

People buy emotionally and then justify those purchases with logic. Meet people where they are and where they are already passionate. Friends, this is the key to starting meaningful conversations. Those conversations lead to sales conversations, which lead to sales.

The value of this approach goes beyond prospecting. It’s the central (and re-centering) focus of your follow-up and how you handle objections.

When that customer goes dark after a meeting, how do you restart the conversation? Do you call to check in or touch base? Remember, nobody wants their base touched.

Or do you get their attention again by asking them about the issue at hand?

“Ms. Prospect, I know it’s been a couple of weeks since we last spoke. Is your sales team still struggling to close deals, or have you solved that issue?”

If it’s still a problem, then you’ll get their attention. If it’s not, then it’s time to move on anyway.

The problem is also the focus of my objection-handling strategy. Don’t get into an argument with a prospect. Remind them why you’re having the conversation in the first place, and regroup.

Any time you need to reset the conversation, anywhere in the sales process, return to the problem. 

The big problem <ahem> most sellers have is that they don’t really understand the issues they help their prospects with. The overwhelming majority of salespeople (usually the ones that are underperforming) are so focused on how they help that they miss the forest for the trees. There's a prime example in the video.

You need to establish what you’re trying to do with your prospect and why before you ever get to the how. Otherwise, there’s no context, no tension, and thus no sale.

When you do this right, you will start more conversations, create more opportunities, and close a higher percentage of them because your process will be centered around what really matters to your prospect, not just what matters to you.

Selling is not a manual to be followed, it’s a series of problems to be solved. A step-by-step guide will only lead you to mediocre results. Instead of wondering what to do next, think about what needs to happen next. You can do anything you want as long as you let these rules guide you.