“How can I help you,” the sales person asked.
“I need to organize my closet,” my wife replied.
Then the salesperson proceeded to show my wife the top of the line closet organizing system that she thought we would love and told us why it was a great deal.
Compare this to the Container Store. The sales person at the Container Store asked a lot of questions: “What do you want to organize in your closet?”, “What do you keep in there now?”, “What do you think is out of place?”, and a personal favorite that I also ask my wife, “How many pairs of shoes do you have?”
After hearing the answers, the salesperson showed my wife a system that would organize our closet, and explained how. The sales person wasn’t selling a product. She was solving our problem.
Focus on uncovering and solving problems. You’ll sell more products.
How can you sell solutions instead of products? What do you think helps sell more?
Interesting comments.
I like your writing style, it’s easy and to the point. For me it seems to boil down to selling a product or making a customer. Taking the time to show a person that you care about their problem and want to help them will give you a customer which is so much better than just a sale of a product. Customers keep coming back for more.
Well said. Thanks for the comment.
Over simplified – but
Interrogitives lead to understanding which leads to a meaningful solution:
- What (exactly) needs to be seen, heard and believed?
– Who (specifically) needs to see, hear and believe it?
- Where (currently) is the state of understanding and belief?
- How (precisely) much change is meaningful to the business and realistic?
Only then can we discuss a possible solution that someone needs to buy to ‘organize their closet’ – not someting we want to sell.
Hi Rich, You’re right. We must understand first, before we can sell. Thanks for the comment.
I work at a big company and we constantly mess this up. We have to be solving for the solution not the sale. We’ll build better long term clients that way
I have witnessed the power of selling solutions in my non profit business, but I have never seen a description of it written so concisely. I am going to print out the phrase “Focus on uncovering and solving problems. You’ll sell more products” and tape it to my computer for inspiration- thanks!
Thanks!
Just to clear the record in the blogosphere, I don’t have THAT many shoes. Joking aside, I’ve found that The Container Store has excellent customer service and happy employees who are empowered to find the right solutions for their customers. I think this solutions based approach converts many consumers who might shop elsewhere for organizing products.
When you say, “I don’t have THAT many shoes” are you counting your boots, sandals, etc?
She doesn’t really have that many shoes. Just seems like a lot next to my 5 pairs of sneakers/shoes.
Enjoyed the blog. It was short, concise and pointed out a very important aspect of sales that most people don’t utilize.
Thanks.
The Container Store sales person listened! Your wife felt invested in the solution because she felt her voice was heard and her organizational problem understood. Classic!!!!
When we first launched our search engine optimization offering for Razorfish, we would consistently be pitching against larger more established companies in the search space. We were able to rapdily build our practice by winning a large majority of the pitches we participated in. We weren’t the cheapest, had few client references, and limited history of past successes. So how did we do it? Time after time I heard from the decission makers that hired us, that we were the only ones who really focused on their needs and customized our presentation/solution to them. Our competitors had focused on their own company history, technology, staff etc. It was a canned presentation that could have been given to anybody. Simply put, we sold a solution to their problems and not just a product.
You also did a great job at providing free advice. Your pitches (which I saw a bunch of) told prospects exactly how they could fix their web sites. That’s another important aspect of sales — everyone is out there pitching, so provide as much free advice and value as possible. Don’t worry that someone won’t hire you, because you provided too much value and they don’t need you. Most people will hire you, because you demonstrated that you’re an expert. And, they’re talking to you in the first place because they don’t want to do it themselves. Thanks for the post.
This is such a great example of how the best sales people ask questions and listen … that’s how you can fill a need … which is really the heart of sales. Great post!
I’ve seen great pitches, where the sales team asked the prospect to talk about their needs. 45 minutes of an hour-long pitch is spent talking about the client’s needs and not the company. Great close rates. Thanks for the post.
A consultative approach with potential clients is critical to any successful sale. In the financial industry, we spend a significant amount of time and effort identifying client objectives through a very detailed series of specific questions. Through this defined process, we are able to tailor a solution specific to each client not unlike your custom closet!
Thanks for the post.
To your point, some financial services companies do an excellent job learning about customers before they try selling to them. For example, the investment managers who offer free assessments; if you give them your financial info, they give you personalized recommendations for free. It’s a great reason to give them the information, and they have exactly what they need to customize a pitch.
A different example along these lines — at our agency, we marketed an allergy brand. We offered a free personal allergy profile to people who filled out our online form. We had tens of thousands of people fill out the form. They got very valuable and relevant allergy information, and we could do effective targeted marketing. We could segment the audience based on what messages would resonate best with them (pet allergies vs. seasonal, outdoors vs. dust, child sufferer vs. adult, etc.)