The Importance of Insight in Sales: Knowledgeable Salespeople Matter

For those that do not know me, I am a fan of Zeno of Citium, Seneca and Epictetus.  Much of what the ancient Stoics wrote is supremely relevant to our modern world and I have been integrating Stoic principals into my own sales philosophy.  This is the first of 10 Articles I am writing to showcase how an ancient philosophy can breathe new life into your sales efforts.

There was a time when salespeople were measured solely for their "gift-of-gab", for their ability to never take "no" for an answer, and for their dogged persistence to keep coming back until a sale was closed. However, today's tech-savvy customers are more informed, uninterested in unannounced visits and less likely to succumb to those antiquated strategies of the past. This is why the best salespeople are the most insightful salespeople.

Customers in today's markets gravitate to salespeople who have a forward-looking strategy, ones who focus less on the immediate sale and more on repeat sales. These are the salespeople who combine a solid sales negotiation skillset with the requisite product knowledge and market insight needed to get customers talking. Asking customers leading questions is critical in sales, and it's the answers to those questions that leads to winning business.

Now, does this mean that success in sales simply comes down to asking customers anything and everything? No, it doesn't. It's not about how much you ask but more about what you ask. You need to ask an insightful question at the right time to the right customer and that only comes from having the right insight about your product offering, your customer's application and your market's emerging trends. So, how do you find that all-important balance between being seen as a "know-it-all" versus someone who has something relevant, valuable and insightful to offer?

1.  Product Insight:  Understanding your product's features and benefits is one thing, but defining those payoffs in such a way that your customer will appreciate them is something else entirely. It's not about regurgitating everything your product does. It's really about focusing on the unique selling points and differentiating characteristics that set your product apart from its competition. You then define those benefits in a way your customer can appreciate. 

• Does your product provide any cost-per-use, efficiency or longevity benefits?
• Does your product have a longer shelf-life or field-service life?
• Does your product have a lower rate of failure?
• Is your quality above reproach and beyond what's typically seen in the market?

 Answering each of these questions will showcase how your product can save your customers time, resources and money. It's simply a matter of knowing how to position your product insight within the leading questions you ask customers.

2.  Application and Customer Insight:  Knowing how, when and why a given customer buys is critical. You need to become embedded in the customer's account by understanding their products, their application, their own customers and their market position. Go deep and establish a network of multiple decision makers so that you're always able to maximize customer face-time.

 Finally, the data you present to your customer must be relevant. It must show that you have a thorough understanding of the customer's application and needs. Inundating your customer with irrelevant data does nothing to showcase how well you know their business and their requirements. Focus on what your customer does and how you can help them.

3.  Market Insight and Industry Insight:  No, market insight and industry insight aren't the same thing. Market insight relates to how well you know your competition, your vendors, your position in the supply chain, your stakeholders, your partners, and most importantly, how well you understand emerging trends and technological advancements.

 Industry insight pertains to how well you know the industry as a whole. This is about your ability to define the history behind your industry and the rise and fall of your industry's biggest stalwarts. Customers will appreciate your insight when it's presented across a wide spectrum of knowledge. Knowing your industry's history and your market's trends demonstrates your ability to be in the here and now.   

Customers want to deal with insightful salespeople who adopt a customer-centric sales approach, one that combines solid product and customer application knowledge with thorough market knowledge. When you can come to your customer's facility and wow them with what you know, and how that knowledge can help them, then you're that much closer to securing a position as their  incumbent supplier.