Are You Selling a Product or a Solution
Early in my career, I was a blue-collar salesperson, wearing a hardhat, walking the shop floor through manufacturing plants. I sold a product that tracked the quality of the production on a single machine. I usually talked to just one person – a quality engineer or shop foreman. I spent 15 minutes demonstrating the product, and usually won the sale.
Later in my career, I transitioned to selling enterprise software solutions. During this transformation, I had to learn all the aspects of selling solutions, not just a simple, single product. It was a long and difficult process but ended up being a very rewarding experience for me.
What are you selling?
During a sales training session with a client, one sales leader advised his team to “Sell your solution to their problem, not your product”. Wise words indeed, that changed their approach.
This simple advice shifted their mindset. Rather than touting product features and functionality, their new mindset became:
- Positioning their sales team as consultants and advisors who were engaged to help their customer
- Understanding their customer’s needs before pushing their products.
- Determining the business value the customer will realize after implementation.
- Proving the business justification based on the value
- Connecting solution benefits to their unique solution capabilities.
Selling your solution to their problem makes you different and better than most transactional salespeople.
I’m DJ Sebastian, for more info on what it takes to become an Elite Seller, visit my website at thetechseller.com