Do You Think Selling Sucks?

Stop selling and instead have people start to buy!

If you’ve been around me, or my blog, or any of my other online content – Facebook or Twitter, you know that I’m an entrepreneur and an investor. I own or have owned several businesses. In each instance we (i.e the company) has sold a lot of stuff, but I don’t consider myself a sales person. Never have, and probably never will.

So how do my various sales teams, and I end up doing business with people who are ready to buy?

The simple answer is we think like our customer and always seek to find out what they want or need. As I’ve said before, I believe what Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, says – “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. And if they resonate with why you do what you do then they (almost automatically) become buyers.

So let’s get a little more specific about how to uncover what’s on your customer’s mind so you can begin to think like them.

In all my companies (past and present) we have used a sales method that I learned from Neil Rackham, author of the book SPIN Selling.

SPIN is actually an acronym that’s plays out this way:

S – Situation

P – Problem

I – Implication

N – Need Payoff

S – Situation: When speaking to someone who might be interested in, or benefit from, buying your product or service, you want to first understand their situation. You’ll want to know more about who they are, what they do, and how they do it. Basic facts about their situation. The key here is to make these questions quick and to the point. Don’t linger here!

P – Problem: Here you want to probe for problems, difficulties, or dissatisfactions with their current situation. The key here is to allow them to actually feel the pain associated with the problem.

I – Implication: This is where we take the problems we have uncovered and probe for the implication of the problem persisting. As an example, if you’re in the nutritional supplement business, you might be talking to a person generally interested in their health (situation). You uncover the fact that they are not sleeping well at night (problem). They initially see this as a minor inconvenience because they can make up sleep on the weekend. In the Implication phase you might lead them to understand that loss of nightly sleep has led to less productivity at work, costing them additional income, and they might realize that their eating habits have changed and they are eating more junk food. All in all what seemed like just a lack of sleep has several more serious implications.

N – Need Payoff: In the Need Payoff phase you help the buyer see the advantages of eliminating the problem (and the associated implications). In this phase you focus on the solution and how your product is a part of the solution. This is where someone turns into a buyer.

Now I have to ask…

Does any part of that process feel like selling to you? Believe me, when you do it this way, it doesn’t!

Selling sucks! So why do it.