“A dead simple way of getting customers to lean in…(and you will sell more)”

This is the 4th episode of the newsletter “From the Buyer’s Perspective”. In this episode, I share a successful method of getting customers to lean in; if you do this well, I guarantee you will sell more.

Who Discovers?

In traditional sales methods, the salesperson asks ” discovery questions” to develop a deep understanding of the customer’s needs, dissatisfaction or gaps. Often, the conversation is about where a customer’s state is, where they want to be and how the salesperson’s solution is filling that gap.

Selling with the Buyer’s perspective takes a different approach. It’s the buyer who making the discovery. This modern selling approach recognizes and appreciates that it is very challenging for companies to work out their next growth initiatives in this ever-changing world. It also anticipates that multiple buying group stakeholders are often overwhelmed with information and confused about what their company needs. They are screaming for help and would love to meet with salespeople who can be trusted (driving the customer’s agenda) and have advice.

They need answers to questions like:

• What have we missed?
• What initiatives are other similar customers taking?
• Who is stirring and shaking the industry? How should we anticipate?
• What different growth strategies should we explore?

So, after the SHOW-VERY-ASK part of the sales meeting (see the previous episode), it makes sense to let the customer discover something related to their challenges and offer a different perspective. This is a simple way to get customers to engage.

Now that you know what to do, the question is, HOW?

The most and least trusted professions

The most trusted professions tend to embody integrity and demonstrate reliability. Of course, at the top of the list are Healthcare Professionals like doctors, pharmacists and nurses. However, it may surprise you that the number two professions are Educators, like teachers and professors. Unfortunately, salespeople are not ranked very high. Why? I believe we are still fighting off the bad reputations of the hard sellers with their closing techniques.

“The way to let the customer discover something related to their challenges must be done as an educator. Not as a salesperson.”

This is using psychology in selling.

Credible, 3rd party research

The best way of doing that is by referring to research results from credible 3rd party suppliers. In other words, the underlying message of your insight is: “Don’t believe me (I am a salesperson); instead, trust the data from this credible research company.” feel the difference between the examples below:

“Mary, I recommend adding more language options on your website so that you reach more customers from different countries.”

“Mary, I have here an article from McKinsey that recommends businesses like yours to grow your customers by activating additional language options on your website – let me share it with you now”

In the first example, you are perceived by the customer as a salesperson, and in the second, as an educator.

Key Takeaways

Apply this dead simple way of getting customers to lean in… and you will sell more:

• Let the customer discover
• Share your insight as an educator

What’s next?

Even when sharing insights as an educator, customers remain sceptical. What else should you do to keep building credibility so that your customer wants to take action? Watch out for the next episode:

“The Ultimate Storytelling; so good it feels like cheating.“

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