Are You Selling The Wrong Thing?
Are You Selling The Wrong Thing?
Focusing on selling the wrong thing has a significant impact on your sales results: it repels prospects; it lengthens the sales cycle and often results in lost sales. So what is the wrong thing?
You are focusing on selling the wrong thing if you are focusing on selling your products and services.
You see, if you focus on selling your products and services, you will have a sales conversation where several of the following will happen:
1. Your sales conversations are going to be focused on you and not your prospect. Your sales conversations are going to be about you: your products and your services. Your conversations are going to come across as "me-me-me" conversations and "me-me-me" conversations naturally and automatically repel people.
2. Your prospects are going to lose interest very quickly as they probably won't be able to immediately determine what's in it for them i.e. what relevant problem your products and services solve. Once your prospect has lost interest they will probably move on and the sale is lost.
3. Your prospects are going to feel overwhelmed and confused with all the primarily irrelevant information you are flooding them with about your products and services. Overwhelmed prospects do one of two things: nothing or they delay making a decision. Either way a sale is either lost or, if you are lucky, simply delayed.
4. Your prospect will not trust themselves to make a decision. They will not trust themselves to understand all the information you are overloading them with about your products and services. They will also not trust themselves to determine if in fact your products and services can solve their problem. They may even bring in a third party - a consultant - to help them. Either way the sale will take longer than it need be - assuming they are still interested.
So instead of focusing on selling your products and services what do you focus on?
You simply focus on selling what your prospect wants to buy. It really is that simple.
Your prospect wants to buy a solution to their problem. Hence, if your prospect wants to buy a solution to their problem, it makes sense to focus your sales conversation on their problem. Your products and services then ONLY come into the conversation when you get to the part of the sales conversation where you explain 'how' you solve their problem. Your products and services only play a supporting role in the sales conversation (versus the leading role.)
By changing the focus of your sales conversation to the prospects problem several of the following things will happen:
1. Your sales conversations will be focused on your prospect and not on you. Just by changing your conversations from a "me-me-me" focus to a focus on them, you will naturally and automatically attract prospects.
2. Your prospects are going to be interested as you are going to come across as wanting to help them solve their problem. People are naturally and automatically interested in people who can help them solve their problems.
3. Your prospects are not going to feel overwhelmed or confused as you are not going to be overwhelming them with irrelevant information about your products and services. You'll only eventually be telling them about your products and services to the extent they solve their problem.
4. Your prospects will start to trust themselves to make a decision. During the sales conversation you will help them understand their problem and its impact on them and their business. You will help them understand the connection between the problem they have and how the specific aspects of your products and services can solve it. With this clear understanding, they will trust themselves more to make the right decision.
So, as you see from the above, if in your sales conversations you are focusing on your products and services you are focusing on selling the wrong thing. As a result you will repel prospects, increase the time it takes to make a sale and lose a lot of sales. So start today by focusing your sales conversation on what your prospects want to buy: a solution to their problem.
(c) 2008 Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.
Are You Selling The Wrong Thing - To learn more about this author, visit Tessa Stowe's Website.
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Are you focusing on selling the wrong thing? If you are, you are not alone as the majority of salespeople focus on selling the wrong thing. In addition, senior executives in companies encourage their own salespeople to focus on selling the wrong thing. In fact these senior executives even give their marketing departments large amounts of money to spend on producing marketing materials which focus on selling the wrong thing. This focus on selling the wrong thing is an epidemic.
Focusing on selling the wrong thing has a significant impact on your sales results: it repels prospects; it lengthens the sales cycle and often results in lost sales. So what is the wrong thing?
You are focusing on selling the wrong thing if you are focusing on selling your products and services.
You see, if you focus on selling your products and services, you will have a sales conversation where several of the following will happen:
1. Your sales conversations are going to be focused on you and not your prospect. Your sales conversations are going to be about you: your products and your services. Your conversations are going to come across as "me-me-me" conversations and "me-me-me" conversations naturally and automatically repel people.
2. Your prospects are going to lose interest very quickly as they probably won't be able to immediately determine what's in it for them i.e. what relevant problem your products and services solve. Once your prospect has lost interest they will probably move on and the sale is lost.
3. Your prospects are going to feel overwhelmed and confused with all the primarily irrelevant information you are flooding them with about your products and services. Overwhelmed prospects do one of two things: nothing or they delay making a decision. Either way a sale is either lost or, if you are lucky, simply delayed.
4. Your prospect will not trust themselves to make a decision. They will not trust themselves to understand all the information you are overloading them with about your products and services. They will also not trust themselves to determine if in fact your products and services can solve their problem. They may even bring in a third party - a consultant - to help them. Either way the sale will take longer than it need be - assuming they are still interested.
So instead of focusing on selling your products and services what do you focus on?
You simply focus on selling what your prospect wants to buy. It really is that simple.
Your prospect wants to buy a solution to their problem. Hence, if your prospect wants to buy a solution to their problem, it makes sense to focus your sales conversation on their problem. Your products and services then ONLY come into the conversation when you get to the part of the sales conversation where you explain 'how' you solve their problem. Your products and services only play a supporting role in the sales conversation (versus the leading role.)
By changing the focus of your sales conversation to the prospects problem several of the following things will happen:
1. Your sales conversations will be focused on your prospect and not on you. Just by changing your conversations from a "me-me-me" focus to a focus on them, you will naturally and automatically attract prospects.
2. Your prospects are going to be interested as you are going to come across as wanting to help them solve their problem. People are naturally and automatically interested in people who can help them solve their problems.
3. Your prospects are not going to feel overwhelmed or confused as you are not going to be overwhelming them with irrelevant information about your products and services. You'll only eventually be telling them about your products and services to the extent they solve their problem.
4. Your prospects will start to trust themselves to make a decision. During the sales conversation you will help them understand their problem and its impact on them and their business. You will help them understand the connection between the problem they have and how the specific aspects of your products and services can solve it. With this clear understanding, they will trust themselves more to make the right decision.
So, as you see from the above, if in your sales conversations you are focusing on your products and services you are focusing on selling the wrong thing. As a result you will repel prospects, increase the time it takes to make a sale and lose a lot of sales. So start today by focusing your sales conversation on what your prospects want to buy: a solution to their problem.
(c) 2008 Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.
Are You Selling The Wrong Thing - To learn more about this author, visit Tessa Stowe's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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