The rule is: Prospects buy for their reasons, not the salesperson’s reasons

When first engaging a prospect, are salespeople more inclined to give you reasons their company, their product, their service is the best choice, or are they more inclined to find out what the prospect needs, why they need it, and how it will affect them?

Why do some salespeople “show up and throw up”?  It’s because they’ve been trained to be an expert in product knowledge.  They’re comfortable telling rather than asking.

Traditionalists have been preaching “feature & benefit” selling for ages.  And there’s a documented track record for results…”You’re going to love the convenience.”  After all, it’s an easy way to sell; you just stick to the script.  Customers hang on to every word until you close.

One problem with “feature & benefit” selling is while it may convince prospects to buy, it can also motivate them to shop the competition with the knowledge you have just given them. We call this unpaid consulting.  “Feature & Benefit” selling only aims for the target, never the bullseye.

People buy to get rid of PAIN.  There are three levels of PAIN and you uncover it by crafting compelling questions.  The Surface PAIN is the obvious stuff.  For example, you need more customers.  The Business PAIN is the second level, and it focuses on how the Surface PAIN affects the business.  Example:  cash flow is down and you can’t buy inventory or pay staff.  Finally, Personal PAIN is how it affects the buyer personally.  In this case the business fails and retirement is not in the future.

If features and benefits don’t convince people to buy, what does?  Emotions.  

Technically there are five that, when aroused, may lead the prospect to buy:

Pain in the present

Pain in the future

Pleasure in the present

Pleasure in the future

Interest/Curiosity

Traditional sales people will pursue the last three using “feature & benefit” selling to appeal to the prospect’s intelligence connect their product to their needs.  Unfortunately an intellectual discussion with t prospect can end up with an intellectual response like, “Well, I’ll think it over.”

While decisions tend to be justified intellectually, they are made emotionally.  How well do you qualify your prospects for emotional PAIN?

Many salespeople either don’t know how to craft the questions that move the conversation from the intellectual level to the emotional level or they aren’t comfortable having an emotional conversation.  When you sell, pursue only PAIN.  It requires you to understand more than the simple surface needs.  You need to dig deeper to have a complete understanding of the client’s buying motivation.

By the way, there is a place for features and benefits in selling.  It’s called the presentation steo.  But you talk only about features and benefits that match the prospect’s PAIN.

Sandler Training Inc. (www.atlantic.sandler.com) is an international sales and management training/consulting firm.  For a free paperback edition of Why Salespeople Fail and What Not to do About it, call the Sandler Sales Institute at (902) 468-0787 or e-mail salescareers@sandler.com.