To be successful in sales your customers need to feel that you have their best interest in mind.

How do you do that? The advice I always provide is to not sell anything. Instead you should help customers buy.

That advice may seem counterintuitive to some and obvious to others. However, the mistake many inexperienced (and/or ineffective) sales professionals make is thinking what they are going through with their customers is a “sales cycle” when in reality it is a “buying cycle” for their customers.

To truly help your customers you need to get into the mind of your customers. And keep in mind that their perspective is only from the buying position, not the selling perspective. If that is the case, then you need to help them buy. And what you help them buy must meet three specific critieria:

1. They need it.
2. They want it.
3. It benefits them.

What you sell must meet all three criteria. Think about it. If they need it but they don’t want it, then they won’t buy it. If they want it but it doesn’t benefit them and you sell it to them anyway, then you are the bum that sold them a bill of goods when they realize down the road they bought a product or service that didn’t benefit them. Not exactly a recipe for gaining customers for life and winning repeat business with current customers!

So what does this mean in terms of how you sell? Make sure you create messaging and steps in your sales process that are “buying friendly” for your customers. Make sure you address all three criteria throughout the customer’s buying process. Translate how your products or services benefit them. Incorporate “influential and persuasive” terminology into your messaging to tap into the “need and want” buying criteria.

So as a next step you should review your messaging to make sure it addresses all three buying criteria. Then you should review the steps in your sales cycle and make sure they align with the typical steps your customers take in their buying cycles to truly align the two to make your process “buying friendly”. If you want specific examples of how to accomplish these next steps then feel free to post your questions below this blog