Clients Don't Want Your Product, They Want a Solution

The key to being successful in sales is to understand what your client wants.

There are so many books and articles written out there about sales, so many methods and techniques, but at the heart of it is empathy. Before you even start explaining your product, you should be able to answer this: what does the person sitting opposite of you want, really? What are his cravings, what are his problems and issues?

According to HubSpot, listening to your client’s needs ranks as the top way to create a positive sales experience. If you sell directly, without bothering to examine these, you’re unlikely to be successful. That’s because clients are never interested in what you’re trying to sell them; they’re interested in how to solve their problems.

Below are three tips on how you can incorporate this in your own interaction with clients:

1. Listen and don’t assume

For all the talking that comes with the job, good salespeople have to be good listeners. It’s standard practice to ask customers why they’re interested, but you have to go more in-depth. When they say they want a particular software because it makes their lives easier, don’t take that at face value.

If you can’t explain clearly what’s going on in their heads, don’t even start selling yet. Keep drilling down and asking about the context.  

A common issue is misinterpreting what customers say. To avoid this, practice active listening, where you paraphrase back what they told you. If you get it wrong, they can correct you, and it reassures them that you’re doing your best to understand their perspective.  

2. Build an emotional connection

Both buying and selling are emotional. People may weigh the pros and cons and do their research thoroughly, but ultimately, the decision to buy isn’t based on logic. Psychologists know this: people with brains that can’t process emotions but can still reason have a hard time making even the simplest decisions.

To do sales well, you have to connect emotionally with your client. Remember that you’re selling to another human being, with her own likes and dislikes. Clients will only buy from you if they like you and deem you trustworthy, both of which are gauged on a gut level.

Listening well naturally builds rapport. Different clients also call for different approaches: some of them just want it over with, some are very factual, and others are more emotional. It’s up to each salesperson to gauge this and adapt to every environment.

3. Reframe it in terms of what they want

Once you have a solid understanding of what clients really want, that’s when you can start pitching.

The wrong way to go about it is to embark on a generic spiel that describes all of your product’s features. You can give a brief overview instead, then hone in on the part of your product that addresses the customer’s needs.

Keep in mind that you don’t sell features, exactly: you sell the benefits.

Ask yourself: why would your clients care about the product? For example, if they’re interested in the analytics of your software, don’t just describe it as a brochure would.

Make it more personalized and specific, and tell a story that involves them. Talk about how it will increase their sales, how much more knowledgeable and assured they would feel, how it can push their strategy to a whole new level.

Do this right, and you’ll be much closer to making a successful sale.

Final Thoughts

Despite the focus on speaking and presentation skills, a major part of sales is empathy: knowing how to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, anticipating their needs, and illustrating how your product can fit into their lives.

Each of the points above lays the ground for the other. Good pitching can only be done once you’ve found common ground with your client. Rapport, in turn, can only be established when you’ve listened to your client.

All three are necessary for creating a positive sales experience.

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