“For a headache or pain, take two tablets twice daily. If pain persists, see a doctor”.
No doubt you’ve seen a version of this phrase on TV or have been at the chemist looking for something to fix a headache.
Now, we all know that the cause of a headache could be many things, simple or sinister, yet our first response is to take a tablet. If that doesn’t work, take some more.
If the pain subsides, then that’s okay until the next time, and we continue to tell ourselves the story that in the future, all we have to do is take a tablet. If the pain persists, we sometimes
go to the doctor.
So, what does this have to do with selling?
In many situations, when a salesperson asks the customer a question to gain insight, the very second the customer says something that sounds like a ‘headache’, the salesperson jumps in to offer them a solution ‘the pill’. This pill might seem to help the initial pain, but it won’t fix the cause– why not? Because the salesperson doesn’t know the
cause. The salesperson only knows that this ‘pill’ seemed to work for others, without fully understanding why.
Our job is to find out why the pain is there and where it comes from and then offer a solution based on helping fix the cause. We have to gain insights and then drill down to find the pain, and what’s more, we have to get the customer to tell us their pain, not us tell them what we think their pain is. Customers will pay to take away pain more than a promise of something more enjoyable but less tangible.
Every customer service you offer is a solution to a problem, a solution to a pain point. First, you have to get the customer to tell you what the pain is, then all you do is connect your solution.
We don’t sell the service; we sell the solution.
Easier said than done. This is why customer-centred questions, drilling down to find out why this is so important to the customer and then drilling down to the pain, is the most critical skill a salesperson can learn.
If you want to learn more about this skill, you will find it all in my book
“The Art of Relationship Selling” and my
online course.
I assure you it will change how you sell, for good!
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