Stop Selling and Start Helping People Buy

There is an old saying in sales that goes, “Your customer is not buying a power drill, they are buying the holes.” If old sayings become old sayings because they contain pithy wisdom, what is the wisdom here? It is that Buyers don’t buy features, they buy the benefits those features deliver. But I think there is more.

Revenue generation increases when a Buyer is given the chance to expand at length on the problems that drilling holes will fix for them, [their Pains], and the related good things that will happen when hole drilling is made possible or better, [their desired Gains]. It is further increased when they are helped to articulate the value to them of relieving those Pains and realizing those Gains. More than drills or holes, Buyers want to realize value.

When advising my clients I suggest they take this message to a level where beyond helping them sell more effectively, will help their Buyers buy more easily.

Understanding why people buy is the first step in helping them do so. They buy whatever it is they buy to satisfy one or a combination of the following Five Reasons. These are to…

Make Money – Generate top line revenue or improve bottom line profits

Save Money – Shrink the expense line

Save Time – Increase available hours to put towards other tasks

Increase Convenience – Make their life easier

Improve Competitive Position – Perform better than they did last year, or versus those chasing them

To improve your revenue generation results, start selling using The Five Reasons to help your Buyers buy. Here is how…

1. Before meeting with a Buyer consider your proposed or anticipated solution and ask yourself “what value does my solution bring for each of The Five Reasons?”

2. Meet your Buyer and ask them well thought out questions to discover their Needs

3. For each Need uncovered ask your Buyer to identify the associated Five Reasons value [M$, S$, ST, IC, ICP] they would like to realize by having that Need met

4. Maintain the dialogue to determine the ranked order of importance of their Needs and associated Five Reasons Value

5. Clearly articulate your capability to meet their Needs and deliver The Five Reasons value they desire [use the pre-call work done in Step 1 to help you here]

There. You have now effectively helped your Buyer get to a place where they can make a good decision around which drill to buy. Here’s hoping it is your drill!