Getting Inside The Mind Of Your Customer – Your Relevance Determines Your Revenue

I often ask people what they think “value” is.  I listen and then I explain to them why their definition just doesn’t matter.

As salespeople, we like to see ourselves as being very smart knowing not only everything about what we sell, but about almost everything else as well.  I’m absolutely convinced that too many people think that their primary job is to show up at a meeting and impress the prospective customer by demonstrating how much they know; most sales people today think they have to have all the answers and they believe that if the customer understands how smart they are, they buy from them.   I suppose all this preparation has some positive effect because it raises the sales person’s confidence and keeps them moving forward.

The problem with this, however, is that when they start thinking that what they know is the only thing they need to know, they run the risk of missing what’s really going on with the customer. In other words they run the risk of being completely irrelevant and missing sales that should be and could be theirs.  Customers don’t want to know how smart you are they want to know how well you know how to apply whatever it is that you sell to address whatever their particular need, want or problem

Remember: People buy outcomes, not products or services.

When I say that what we think our “value” is, is not important, what I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter what we think.  It’s what the customer thinks that is important.  Our entire sales call needs to be centered around helping the customer define the word “value” in their mind in relationship to what we’re selling. Customers will never buy anything until they have answered in their own mind what the definition of “value” is to them and why they think what they’re buying from us delivers it to them.

Our goal is to get  the customer to share that definition with us and in so doing get us on the same page with them.  That can only happen when we begin our dialogue with captivating questions; get them expressing what’s important to them.   Here’s the best part – they actually have the answers.  Yes, I said it, your customer already has the answer, but they might not know until you ask them for it!  And once they give it to you, it’s then that you can build a presentation that explains how your benefits provide the specific outcomes the customer is looking for.

The only assumption that is ever safe to make is that YOU KNOW NOTHING until the customer tells you what they’re thinking and why they are thinking it.

Far too many times in sales, we  rush into a sales call and start making assumptions as to what it is the we think the customer might see as “value”.  Yes, we can many times be correct, but we still have to get the customer to share it verbally with us.

Something amazing happens when the customer articulates what it is they’re looking for that helps them begin to see the need for the purchase; they literally discover new clarity about what they want.  Furthermore,  now that you understand what they really  want, not just what you assumed they wanted.  And because they have discovered it with you and through you, you become associated with it – you become part of the value.

To be predictably successful you, the salesperson, must take the time to engage with the customer in a conversation that gets them to share their needs and expectations regardless of what you think they are.   That happens around the questions you ask, not the pitch or presentation you make.  That’s how you get un-commoditized, that’s how you get inside the mind of the customer and create your value.

You Don’t Need To Know Everything  -  You Don’t Need To Prove How Smart You Are – Customers Have The Answers!