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Are You Burying Prospects – and Future Sales – Under a "Solutions Dump?"

Guest post by: Kendra Lee

Article Overview: Selling solutions is far better than selling products and services; but even more important is that you learn to sell solutions to the problems your potential customers actually have… not the ones you imagine they have.

Are You Burying Prospects – and Future Sales – Under a "Solutions Dump?"

Yesterday I took a cold call. I don’t take too many of them because frankly, I dislike the “all about me” attitude. However, I knew the company, and was interested to learn how they might address an issue I’ve been grappling with.

One of the very first things we learn as sellers is that people want to buy solutions to their problems, rather than products or services. That’s why I took the call. I have a problem I wanted to discuss.

As sellers we become experts on learning about the kinds of challenges and difficulties our customers tend to face, and then opening conversations with new prospects on those grounds.

Unfortunately, that doesn't always have the effect sales people hope it will. And usually, that's because they haven't given the prospect time to even mention what his or her problems are yet.

In my case, the sales rep launched into his memorized value proposition based on a business issue he thought I might have. I was interested to talk to him even though his supposition was wrong.

Selling solutions is far better than selling products and services; but even more important is that you learn to sell solutions to the problems your potential customers actually have… not the ones you imagine they have.

My sales rep never gave me a chance to express my concern. After five minutes of listening to him go on and on about the business issue I don’t have, I politely ended the call.

Opening your prospecting calls or emails with what I call a "solutions dump" – where you start giving the prospect answers to challenges they haven't mentioned – is about as effective as telling potential customers only about yourself.

Prospects quickly lose interest. I know I did.

So how can you successfully focus on business issues to sell a solution without resorting to a "solutions dump?"

There are two ways.

1. Open your prospecting and lead generation activities with statements that show how you’ve helped other similar customers solve their problems. That way, you're presenting solutions, but without assuming that you know exactly what your prospect's situation is. Then pause, and let the prospect respond.
2. Do more research to find out what's happening in your prospect's company, industry, and so on. The more you learn, and the more questions you ask, the more accurately you're going to be able to find solutions to the problems that matter.

Finding solutions instead of focusing on products is great advice, in prospecting and sales in general. To make it work, however, first take the time to be sure the answers you're coming up with fit the questions in your prospect's mind.

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Article Tags: Burying Prospects, find solutions, Future Sales, lead gen, prospecting



Related Forum Posts
Re: Website Name Help - Its good that you have come up with the idea of setting up a website for your business. Now As it is into Business Solutions, I would recommend that you also include this into the name of the website. This will help you getting better results as far as SEO is concerned. You can start building a brand with this name. As you have already got the name booked, you can try changing it to something on the lines of Business Solutions as in azimabusiness or azimabusinesssolutions. Its a long name but still is good from the SEO point.
Help me name my moms business - I think Infinity Cleaning Services sounds better than Elite Cleaning Solutions... Why the Solutions? What is there to be solved? You simply get a rag with some Windex on it and wipe away.... plug the vacuum and Vac Away, get a mop and mop away. Stick to Infinity Cleaning Services... ICS sounds cool...
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...


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