What Your Customers Want To Buy

Overheard statement from customer to salesperson:

"I don't want to buy something that you think is worth it,
I want to buy something I think is worth it."

This statement was made by a prospective customer of one of my client companies to a salesperson for that company. It was during a home improvement sales call in the customer's home, but this statement applies to sales of all kinds of products and services and customers in all industries.

How brilliant it was that this customer summarized so well one of the tenets of selling.

Customers don't care what we think unless it's congruent with what they think. Our words lose their value if we try to sell something to the customer that he doesn't want. If we want prospects to value our words, we have to work tirelessly to make sure all our words have value. Please: no more wasted words.

Yet I see this frequently: salespeople pushing a particular product or model or option because they want to sell it. Maybe it's because they like the product; or they get a spiff from the manufacturer for selling it; or their manager told them to push the item this week.

Pushing (aggressiveness) shouldn't have a place in selling. Customers resist pushing salespeople today more than ever.

But I'm a big proponent of assertive selling.  Go ahead and present your premium option to your client, but if they aren't interested, let it go. Go ahead and show your customer the product you think is best for them, but if they aren't buying it, figure out what you're missing, regroup, and have another go at it with the right product this time. So you get a spiff for selling the maintenance plan? Great! Present it convincingly and ask for the order, but that's different than pushing it.

You'll have a much more successful sales career if you sell your customers what it is they want to buy. Find out what that is and then give it to them.

Your customers want to buy what they want to buy. They don't want to buy what you're selling, unless what you're selling happens to match what they want to buy. Sell accordingly.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more.