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How Customers’ Needs Increase Sales

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: One would think that any sales professionals know that the customers’ needs increase sales. However, actual sales experiences do not support that belief.

How Customers’ Needs Increase Sales

One would think that any sales professionals know that the customers' needs increase sales. However, sales experiences do not support that belief.

Of course you meet the customer's needs. Who doesn't? Take a moment to think about your most recent sales experiences. Be honest, did that sales experience meet all of your needs?

I was recently re-reading Dale Carnegie's book "How to Win Friends and Influence People." One of the stories he shared was about Ralph Waldo Emerson the 19th century American essayist who was busy on the farm pushing and shoving a calf from the middle of a pasture into the barn. In spite of all of his efforts, the more Emerson pushed, the more determined the calf was to stay right where he was.

Looking from the calf's perspective, his needs of having food 24/7; being in fresh air; enjoying lots of sunshine; having a lot of room to run around; and being near to family and friends were currently being met. Being pushed into a dark, closed, stale and isolated environment where he wasn’t sure if there was any food would not meet his needs. No wonder he stayed firmly rooted in the middle of the pasture.

Now the housemaid observed this comical situation. She walked out to the pasture, stuck her finger into the calf's mouth and the calf eagerly followed her into the bar. Carnegie shared that Emerson made "the common mistake of thinking only of what he wanted."

How many in sales make this same common mistake by deluding themselves that they are meeting their potential qualified customers’ or clients' needs while truly only focusing on their needs? If you have been in sales, you have heard about not giving anything away for free. Whose need does this belief meet? The qualified potential customers or yours?

Possibly, this explains why so many sales professionals are still engaged in sales based marketing or transactional selling. The transaction is paramount because of the sales professionals’ needs or desires to increase sales.

Maybe this is why more and more sales gurus are talking about adding value, relationship selling and education based marketing. These activities all evolve from the answering the question: How customers’ needs increase sales?

TAKE ACTION SALES COACHING TIP: Educate yourself as to how to add value; how to embrace relationship and what is education based marketing. Then commit to some W.A.Y. S.M.A.R.T. goals. By taking these actions, you will truly understand how customers' needs increase sales.

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Article Tags: american essayist, belief, customers needs, dale carnegie, desires, experiences, family and friends, fresh air, housemaid, how to win friends and influence people, marketing, mistake, pasture, perspective, ralph waldo emerson, sales professionals, spite, sunshine



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