"Buy this product", said a salesperson. He continued on rambling, looking for vulnerable moments to exploit from a customer to close the sale. Every single excuse the customer makes, he retorts as swiftly as a predator catches its prey. The customer starts feeling bad wanting to walk away after the lengthy unsolicited presentation, and within the split second that expression shows, he dishes out guilt to MAKE THEM BUY IT NOW.
Know this salesperson?
I do. Growing up, I came across many salespeople like this. I watched my parents fend off tricky salespeople after salespeople, looking to sell them something they don't need.
After years of exposure, I told myself, "I do not ever want to become a salesperson."
Now? I sell and close deals like never before. So what changed?
The best salespeople are problem solvers, not product pushers.
This is the biggest realization that I had. Because I have mostly only seen salespeople who are product pushers growing up, I thought that's all they are.
But then slowly, when starting my own website management business, I began to understand that the best salespeople are actually problem solvers.
They want to understand your problems and offer a matching solution.
They don't just go around pushing their solution before making sure they understand what problems their customers are facing. This is not true salesmanship.
I take this into practice when closing deals for my services. I don't talk very much about how I code or how I design—I turn the focus much more on the business that I am talking to:
- What is it that they do?
- What challenges are they facing right now with their websites?
- Are they efficient in how they take care of their websites?
And then, after having a conversation around these, I ask myself:
"How do I benefit them by solving their problems?"
Only after I understand their list of problems, I reiterate them back and explain how my services would be helpful to their operations.
But this conversation can only come from a genuine place, a genuine intention of wanting to help.
It is always about that first. Money is an aftereffect.
You close more deals by focusing on people first. The money will follow that in abundance.
If you focus on the money first, you will ironically make less money.
Sales is about giving, not taking.
Difficult lesson, but a valuable one indeed.