Posted by: dgrissom
Category: Achieving Excellence, Creating Value, Customer Retention, Improving Performance, Sales Mastery, Self Mastery
Tags: Customers, Problem Solving, Sales
Be A Problem Solver
Do you think and communicate in terms of problems that you solve for your customers?
No matter what you’re selling, your customers are most likely buying solutions to their problems. When you learn to think in terms of problem solving and speak the language of solutions (rather than features, bells and whistles) you will find your conversations become more relevant, and that means more engaging.
The benefit here is that your customers will begin to view you as a resource or partner, rather than simply a salesperson.
Use this simple exercise to organize your thoughts. Draw a line vertically down a page. In the left hand column, list every customer problem you can think of. In addition to problems, include customer opportunities (an opportunity is simply a problem turned inside out). To the right of each one note how your product or services solves the problem or enables the customer to capitalize on the opportunity.
When you complete this exercise, think about how you can weave this information into your next sales discussion. Consistently demonstrating how you or your product or service solves the customer’s problems will put you on the road to results excellence.
Have you identified the problems you solve for your customers? How will you use this information to be more effective?
