CREATIVE SELLING 101 (Part 3)

by J.B. Bernstein @JBBERNSTEIN

Part three of this series focuses on Purchase Motivation.

Let's face it; if you don't understand the buyer's purchase motivation, you are at a huge disadvantage out of the gate. Back in the old days, you could take a buyer out for lunch, get them all "liquored up", and they would lay out (often in painstaking detail) all their purchase motivation(s), literally paving the way through the purchase process for you.

In today's market, it has become the salesman's responsibility to extract that purchase motivation and it has become one of the toughest things to do in business. These buyers are so pressed for time, they don't have the luxury of taking the time to give you the tools you need to do your job as a salesman.

You need to extract everything you can find about their purchase motivation by looking at market conditions, the competitive framework, the buyer's purchase history, and the buyer's current personal situation. Are they downsizing or upsizing? Has some significant event in their life changed their thoughts about their personal needs? Has a new competitor (or new model) come into the market place? A salesman needs to almost intuitively know these things and has to customize the sales pitch so that the buyer has the feeling that you have somehow read his mind. 

Once you have found out everything you can, condense it into a succinct "elevator - pitch" and approach the customer.  Whether via email, phone, or in person, what I say, goes something like this (example - you will need to customize for each customer):

"(Customer Name), I spent the last couple of weeks trying to find out as much as I could about your industry and specifically about your company.  Based on what is available, I see X, Y, & Z going on in the marketplace, and I see your company focusing on Y.  So there is only one piece of info I am missing.  Are you focusing on Y because you think X & Z are going to tank, or is it because X & Z are too expensive?"

You have in just a few seconds separated yourself from every other sales guy who is reaching out to him to jam their square peg in whatever shape hole the buyer has.  My strategy is go to the other side of the table.  Instead of the buyer feeling like I am trying to sell him what I have, I am working with them to figure out what they need, and then I will craft a solution to sell them.

Back in the mid 90's, I had the honor of being able to represent the 2 greatest running backs in the NFL... Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. During the 9 years their careers overlapped, they won 8 NFL rushing titles (4 each). Emmitt had an enormous national roster of marketing partnerships with blue chip brands in almost every category. Barry should have had the same type of roster, but was somehow pigeon-holed into a "Regional Celebrity".

One day, I was speaking with a friend of mine who was the head of marketing for a major NFL sponsor that also had a deal with Emmitt. At some point, the conversation turned to Barry. In essence I asked him what I could do to change this regional perception amongst guys like him. What he told me changed the outcome of Barry's impact as marketer in a way that still endures today - 19 years after he left the game.

He told me that there were three challenges marketers face when they think about Barry for marketing opportunities:

1.     Does he really matter outside Detroit

2.     He seems like a boring guy

3.     The Detroit Lions stink

I was extracting purchase motivations from the buyer, and I immediately went to work on repositioning Barry to proactively address these three perceptions.

Transcend the market - I argued that Barry was universally loved like no other player.   If you were a Bears fan for example, you loved Barry. You did not have animosity toward him like you would LT who could put your QB out for a season. Barry was great, because when your team played the Lions, he would break a few great runs, but ultimately more times than not, your team would win the game. I was able to illustrate that Barry was less polarizing than any other premier player in the league.

He seemed boring - We repositioned this as a positive. Barry was not boring. Barry was an even keeled superstar who would never get in trouble. Back then, player off-field behavior was a growing concern. Today it is probably one of the biggest concerns for marketers when choosing a spokesman.  Boring became safe.

The Lions Stunk - They did, and there was not much I could say to argue that point. That being said, I did figure out a way to turn this into a positive for Barry. Marketers like to plan in advance, and by the 4th game of the season, I could basically guarantee them that Barry would be available for their post season and Super Bowl marketing efforts. This was a guarantee that most NFL superstars could not give, and had a lot of value to sponsors who pay for these events and like to plan.

Once we pounded the pavement with this proactive mantra, the proverbially flood gates opened up.

Barry became one of the most marketed NFL players in history. In 2013 - a decade and half after he left the game, that same positioning continues to fuel him as a preferred choice of NFL sponsors. He has national deals with Pepsi, Nissan, EA Sports, Rocket Mortgage, Avinar, Verizon, The Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as licensed merchandise deals, with companies like Upper Deck, Nike, Highland Mint, Topps, Panini, Mitchell & Ness, and others.

For Barry, understanding purchase motivation ensured that his off-field legacy would be congruent with his on-field legendary status.