Solve, Don't Sell

 Solve, don't sell.

People buy solutions more than they buy products or services.

If you and I find out what's causing the customer's discomfort, we can solve the pain instead of selling a product.

Not Even Our Problem

One of our salespeople was talking with an account that shipped hundreds or thousands of packages at a time of the product we made for them. She heard them complain about how long FedEx took to process and ship those packages across the country.

That had nothing to do with us, our product, or our process. But, she went ahead and rented a sprinter van, picked up their marketing procurement team from their office, and drove them to FedEx's main facility in Columbus. She organized a tour of the facility and worked out two or three fixes to make with our customer to help the FedEx team.

None of that sold anything. It made us look like the people who solved problems instead of pitching products, and it brought in more business than any sales call would have.

Serve, Don't Pitch

Once we know what needs solved, we do a better job serving the customer. We offer the product as the answer to a question we already understand, not as the opening pitch.

Find the pain, and let the solution follow. Sometimes it isn't even yours to fix. That's when you build the most trust with the account.

Solve, don't sell.

Roy Waterhouse is the founder of Lean Sales Group, where he coaches salespeople on building trust and growing accounts.