Your prospects don’t care about you, sorry, it’s sad but true.
They don’t care about your family either, your kids, their toys and that new car you would like to buy. Even better, they don’t care about your company, income, revenue and your future either. In fact, they probably hardly remember your name, sorry.
No matter what you do, you won’t change that. Or at least you won’t be able to use any of that to make a sale. Although so many try.
Most business people struggle with their sales, it’s a very well known fact. From qualifying prospects, makinig the initial contact to the actual sale they have problems with every step of the way. Sure, many seek help and there are plenty of places where they can get it. I offer quite a lot of it on this blog and in my book, The Smart Business Guide to Winning New Work, S. Anthony Iannarino writes daily about sales on his blog and there are many others sharing some amazing advice too.
However, no matter how much technique you learn and absorb, you will never make a sale unless you realize the single most important aspect of sales:
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. PERIOD.
Here is the problem, for many small business owners, their business is all about them. They consider it the single most important aspect of their lives, in fact for many it is their life (nothing wrong with that by the way) and naturally seek their prospects to do the same.
They expect everyone to see the value of using their companys services or products straight away.They think that their work speaks for itself (and it sometimes does, sure but it’s mainly during industry related events, amongst your peers. Don’t even try to think it happens anywhere else.) and they don’t have to communicate the benefits of using them to anyon. In their minds, everyone should know them already and they approach the sales call with that exact attitude.
I know, I have seen it first hand, in my office with so many sales people coming here trying to sell us something. Hell, I have even made this mistake myself. On my first sales call I hardly said a word. I thought that all I have to do is show my work and the job is mine. Don’t ask me how it went, please.
In reality, your prospects don’t care about you. To many, your work is the same as the stuff a guy that visited them the day before showed them, sorry. They don’t know and understand what you do and they don’t care to learn about it. All they care about is their problem and how to solve it.
In order to make a sale then, you need to convince them not only that you know the solution but that they should buy from you. That’s where the secret to making sales is. There is only one way to do it, by answering one simple question:
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
One of the bonus materials I give away free with my book is a sales call preparation template. It is designed to help you get everything together before your next presentation but also, by the way it’s being organized it forces you to think in terms of the prospect when you prepare your meeting. You need to answer certain questions in it and many of them relate to finding the benefits of using you:
Why your prospect would buy from you?
What are the benefits to them?
What could prevent them from buying? (this is an important aspect of sales too, and closely related to the benefits)
and so on.
Answering any of the above isn’t easy, at least at the start, I agree. However, with a bit of hard work you can find out most common answers to those questions and that’s a great starting point.
How?
It’s simple, ask your current clients!
Something to ask yourself:
Can you tell why your current clients bought from you?
Have you ever asked?
Have you ever done a survey to reveal how exactly your product or a service is helping your clients base, what exact problems it solves and where they perceive value in what you are offering?
About Pawel