WHY SHOULD I BUY FROM YOU?

Q:

Dan,

In your workshop you asked one of my colleagues to role play with you. You played the role of the customer and asked, "Why should I buy your product?" First, you asked him to reply like a typical rep. Then, you asked him to reply like a superstar. Can you please review the correct response? I thought the answer was immensely powerful.

Thanks!

Margaret West Linn, OR 

A:

Margaret,

You have asked a great question! I am sure that others will benefit from reviewing the best answer to this question. This simple Q and A exchange reveals the difference between average reps and superstar reps.

It is best to first address what NOT to say when in this situation. Consider the following: 

Customer: "Oh, I noticed you work for ABC Company. I understand we are considering your offering. I only have a few minutes. Please tell me why you think we should consider buying from your company."

Average Sales Rep: "Sure, I'm happy to tell you why you should buy from us. We are the #1 company in the world. We have the best reputation, market share, and product. Not only that, our service team is the best in the world. Our system is faster and easier to use than any other product. The ROI, IRR, Payback, NPV is better than any competitor. Blah, blah, blah..."

Translation: I am a typical, average sales rep and I:

• Do not care about your needs
• Do not care about your time constraints
• Do not care if I sell a product or solution to you that does not meet your needs
• Do not care how you plan to use the product or solution
• Do not want to spend any time uncovering your specific short-term and long-term needs to see if my product is the right one for you
• Do not care if you could solve your problem with an alternative offering that would be much better for you
• Do not want to look at your specific business case/impact analysis to determine your ROI, Payback, NPV, IRR. In other words, I really do not care if you can afford it or not. 

As an average rep, I believe that my only goal in this discussion is to convince the customer to buy from me. I need to get a signed contract and down payment on the spot. I also believe that when a customer has only a few minutes it means that:

• I need to talk really, really fast.
• I need to toss everything my marketing department told me about my product against the wall and see if any of it sticks.

I think you will agree how wrong this approach is and that we now know what not to say.

How does a true Superstar answer this customer's question? First, the Superstar must determine where the customer is positioned on the Trust Triangle. For those of you who are new, the Trust Triangle is a powerful tool which helps us understand how people make major high-risk decisions. It helps us to determine what we can do to help clients as they make major decisions. For more information, see Trust Triangle Selling.

In this example, let's assume we have never met the client before and that the client is closed-minded, is early in the buying process and is therefore on the far-left side of the Trust Triangle. Given this information, we have a single goal in our interaction with her: to GAIN TRUST; NOT sell. To gain trust we reply with a generous amount of empathy and credibility. Here is an example:

Customer: "Oh, I noticed you work for ABC Company. I understand we are considering your offering. I only have a few minutes. Why do you think we should buy from your company?"

Superstar: "Sure, I'd be happy to address why you may wish to invest in our solution. However, I would feel extremely uncomfortable about doing so without a comprehensive overview of exactly how you plan to utilize our offering both in the short term and long term. It sounds like you are pressed for time now. I would like to take the first steps in that effort. I would like to invest some time to get a better understanding of your business. I would also like to get a full sense of your short-term and long-term plans for using our system. Once I do that, if there is a match between your requirements and our offering, I would be happy to review how we can help you. If there is not a match, I would be happy to recommend several other solutions that may be better able to address your needs. What is the best way for me to get time on your calendar next Friday morning?"  

Translation: 

• I care about you.
• I respect your time.
• I care about your short-term and long-term needs.

Now let's change gears and look at a situation where you have already earned the trust of a client. Let's say your client is deep into her buying process and therefore on the far-right side of the Trust Triangle. Our goal, then, is to credibly share why we offer the right solutions given the client's objectives. Does that mean tossing all our features and benefits against the wall? Of course not. Like a laser beam you will review the stated buying criteria and summarize how your solution specifically and uniquely addresses the client's needs.

Here is an example: 

Customer: "I only have a few minutes. We will be finalizing our vendor selection tonight. Why do you think we should buy from your company?"

Superstar: "Sure, over the past six months we have thoroughly discussed your specific needs and key buying criteria for this investment. You may recall that you finally settled on the following: #1: Speed, #2: Quality & #3: Service. Has anything changed?

Customer: "No, you are still right on track."

Superstar: "Ok, great, let me review and summarize how our offering to you uniquely positions us to meet each of those requirements."

Margaret, this overview offers a great review of what it takes to be successful in sales: Do not sell! Instead: Guide, provide insight and consult! Help your clients make great decisions which are in their long-term interests.  

Good Selling!