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Stop Asking Your Sales People to Sell


Sales

It is only Tuesday and already this week I have had the same conversation with two different companies. Both sell business to business services and both are looking to increase sales.


In both cases, they shared with me their sales/marketing materials highlighting the cost saving of using their services. The more that I read the materials, the faster I started falling asleep. -And I love both numbers and saving money.


I shared with both companies that they need to stop selling. Stop “pitching” me with why your products/services are so wonderful. And start looking for PAIN.


There are over 14 million people in the USA working in sales and none of them actually sell. And this is because people are too wise (or stingy) to be sold. Tell me the last thing that you were sold? It doesn’t happen.


What does happen is that we buy, and we do so to avoid or solve PAIN.


You bought a sandwich yesterday, but that is because you were hungry. Your last car? Were you really sold a car, or did you want to buy one and just needed help selecting the make/model. What about those dress shoes I just brought home? I didn’t feel comfortable showing up at my client’s office barefoot.


The business environment is no different. I’ve never met an executive who showed up to work and said, “I was thinking and decided, that we need more software in this company.” But sales teams do experience the PAIN of not having an effective place to keep notes on their calls, and they solve that pain by buying CRM software.


If you want your sales team to be more effective, simply stop “pitching”, convincing, or selling. Instead, start discovering the PAIN in your prospects lives. And once you know their true pain, offer a solution that will solve for it. That, they will buy.


So, for the remainder of this week, I will be working with these two clients to discover and understand their prospects’ PAIN. (So many companies fail at identifying the true PAIN and end up trying to solve for the wrong problem.) Once we can understand and articulate the PAIN, I am very confident they have a service to solve it. And then we jut need to adjust the sales/marketing messaging.


It is going to be an awesome week.




What I See

What I See is a series of short essays on what takes place in businesses. Through the engagements of consulting firm Gift of Time, I work in many different types of companies helping to make them more efficient and effective. This series of essays is intended to share observations of common themes and issues facing corporations of all sizes and industries.



About Jason Stern: Mr. Stern started Gift of Time (www.giftoftime.us) to provide a cherished resource “time” to business owners and executives. By focusing on the critical areas that lead to results, business leaders avoid wasting time and achieve more. His firm Gift of Time (www.giftoftime.us) works with companies and their leaders to become more effective in less time. He can be reached at jstern@giftoftime.us or 949.244.1885.



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