How is it that nobody likes to be sold to but everyone loves to buy? Can you sell to someone who instinctively hates being sold? The most successful professionals have stopped selling and instead work to be trusted advisors to their clients.
Be a Mindful Servant and watch how more satisfying your career becomes and how loyalty among your customers soars. What if you went to a doctor who immediately laid out a tray full of prescription drugs and started extolling the virtues of each and why you should buy them? You would think the physician was a hopeless kook!
Instead, take a page from all professionals. Ask questions to understand your customer, who they are, what they want to achieve, and where they are coming from. After trying many years to get an appointment with a major pharmaceutical company, I arrived at my first appointment with just a padfolio and pen. The buyer was astounded. “Where’s your suitcase?” he asked. “Suitcase?” I responded. “Yes, all of the trinket salespeople come to my office with a suitcase and start putting all sorts of stuff on my desk” he answered. I said, “I came here to learn about your business and needs today and then I’ll come back if I have some solutions for you. I have found that prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.”
By the way, I enjoyed several years of six and seven figure business from that buyer after I understood their needs. The foundation of any relationship and especially a consultative relationship is TRUST. Clients will not buy from you until they trust you and to earn that trust, put your needs aside and focus laser-like on their needs. You can’t bring them value unless you understand what they value.
Your clients don’t buy things — they buy avoidance of pain or pursuit of pleasure. You must know what they consider painful, where they’ve been and where they’re going in order to become a compelling partner and trusted team member.
Paul Kiewiet MAS+ is an industry speaker, writer, consultant and coach. He serves as the executive director of MiPPA. Kiewiet was inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame and the MiPPA Hall of Fame. He served as Chairman of PPAI in 2007. A former distributor, he founded Promotion Concepts, Inc in 1982 and worked with some of America’s most valuable brands including Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, and Whirlpool.