Asking questions that hit the spot: sales painpoints
People’s expectations of sales are changing. Instead of pitching the benefits of the services, buyers view sales representatives as advisors (it’s 87%, Salesforce said it.). Be that as it may, old-school techniques may no longer work anymore. So what are you going to do?
There’s nothing new– only better
Humans are changing and discovering something that adds value to what has already been discovered– further space travels, diving another 100 feet into the fast ocean. Recently, it was argued that we are either all fish or there is nothing called fish.
There are so many inventions that boggle our minds, but at the same time, we have been keying the same clients’ names differently on three different CRMs. We have sold the benefits but yet forget about the problems these beneficial systems could cause.
As such, rather than selling benefits, it is a more lucrative selling solution. What is the difference, then?
Benefits could be ideologies that people may not know exist; they add value to people’s already perfect lives and make things better. On the other hand, selling solutions comes from a more empathetic place of making complicated lives easier.
We call this Solution Selling
Solution selling is when you sell your services in an approach that concurs with the clients’ pain points and the ultimate target is to solve their problems. On the other hand, the older approach of product selling aims at selling the benefits of a product, without considering the actual needs of the buyer.
Especially in Startups, we do not have the benefits of product selling when so many competing brands exist in the market. Solution selling, however, focuses on the pain points and what they can solve.
How do we sell a solution?
Understand the problem
Through my previous articles, I have expressed my toxic liking for Wolf of Wall Street. However, the scene below describes solution selling:
Although the pitch was rough on its edges, knowing that the customer did not have a pen (pain point) so they could sell the pen (the solution) would be more effective than presenting why that pen was worth the bargain.
Why should I buy this pen? There are so many pens in the world. The direct answer to the lack (of pens) isn’t how great the pen is, but rather providing a solution for the lack of pens.
Crafting solutions to specific needs
Want a red pen? Let me change the ink.
Every client has a different need and in our previous article about decoupling, decoupling allows services to configure their services specifically to the clients’ needs. Hence, many SaaS tools offer enterprise pricing in which buyers are allowed to negotiate their specific preferences.
By offering a more specific service, it also improves the buying experience.
Speak and act in the role of an advisor
What makes an advisor different from the greasy salesman who sells and knows nothing about the product? Advisors understand the market and the worries people are facing. Hence, rather than just selling a product simply to anyone, they sell earnestly to people who can truly benefit and fill up the gaps in their services.
Empathize and Enlighten
Other than writing these articles and selling our very interesting product, What The Sales, I teach non-native English speakers SAT and IB English. At the same time, I was studying a third language and had no idea what I was doing. My experiences made me personable and empathetic towards my students.
I knew exactly what scared them and what I could do to help them shake off the exam jitters.
Although some people do have the natural talent of being extra personable and persuasive, no one is a natural salesperson without having studied the current economy and technological changes. By doing enough research, a genuine and great salesperson can empathize and enlighten their potential customers with solutions to their biggest problems.
Asking the right questions
Finally, there is nothing more important than listening to your customers. Here are a set of questions you can ask your potential customers:
- What are your pain points in xxxx?
- How are you overcoming the problems you are facing in xxxxx?
- Is xxx a huge problem for you?
- How is xxxx affecting your daily operations?
- Can you share with me your sales process, from lead generation to deal closing?
Open-ended questions as such would allow you to understand the clients better.
