“Buyers should not be asked to understand the salesperson’s solution and how it can help with their own goals. Instead, the salesperson should understand the buyers’ goals and how his solution can help achieve those goals.”
– Mark Roberge, “The Sales Acceleration Formula”
I wrote something similar in my first “Deep Discovery” post. The concept is part of a number of sales process categories, including Discovery, Demos, and the reasons for understanding the buyer’s goals and problems.
Let’s think about this in the context of a demo (there are, of course, other examples).
What if we leave the buyer to figure out how the salesperson’s solution can help? Some buyers will figure it out. Maybe they’ve done research ahead of time. Or perhaps they’ve had exposure to the concepts of how others use your product/solution to solve problems. Or maybe they’re just brilliant!
But how many deals are you prepared to lose because some potential buyers can’t make the connection? How many people are you prepared to not help because you don’t know because you really don’t understand their business, and are unable to help them make the connection between your product/service and solving their problem?
There are, of course, two parts to this equation.
The first part is knowing your product or service. While I’ve heard others say that knowing the product as thoroughly as possible isn’t particularly important, they’re wrong. It’s not because you need to show potential clients every single feature and function of your SaaS software. Instead, you need to fully understand every conceivable way you can solve the client’s problem! If you don’t even fully understand your product, how many deals will you leave on the table?
If you can’t even be bothered to fully understand the solution you’re selling, just stop reading here!
The second part requires more business acumen. More depth, more insight. It requires you to learn about the customer’s business. What are their goals? Their problems? What do their operations look like? What solutions do you have to those problems?
More specifically, how have similar companies solved the same problem? And is using your product or service the best way to solve it?
Knowing the answer to these questions is vital.
As a seller, you’re not paid to just sell your product to anyone you can convince to buy. Not in the long run, anyway.
The path to long term success for you (and your company) is to build long term, quality relationships.
You do this by positioning yourself as a true advisor to your client, focused only on solving your client’s problems.
Do this effectively, and you’ll develop more long term profitable relationships than you can imagine.
And as Roberge says, it starts with understanding your client’s goals (problems), and how your solution can help them reach their goals and/or solve their problems.