Selling is hard.
Whether selling hamburgers or satellites, selling is hard.
And yet, when you find the right mix of someone with a problem worth solving, someone else with the solution, and timing the meeting of the two, it’s a match that works beautifully.
The secret sauce is asking the potential client the right Implication and Needs-payoff questions (SPIN Selling, Neil Rackham) for them to uncover the real problem and the value of your solution. Irritating symptoms often mask issues, and trying to fit your square solution into the round problem is easy.
That reminds me of the school shopping trip nightmares are made of.
Every year growing up, around mid-August, Mom loaded my brother, sister, and me into the green family station wagon, complete with faux wood side panels, and took us shopping for school clothes. We usually stayed in Wauseon and saw Mr. Sauber at Shaw’s Clothing. It was close, and he knew what we liked.
The year I went into Mrs. Webster’s fourth-grade class, Mom had an appointment in Toledo around that time. So, she took us clothes shopping in the Westgate Mall. We loved going to Toledo because we were treated to Max & Erma’s, with the phones on each table, if we behaved. The prices were a little less than Shaw’s, so Mom was happy with that, too.
What happened next impacted my life forever. You see, I was a chubby kid then; I pre-fueled my big kid body.
None of the husky pants at the big store fit right because they were all high-waisted. Until then, I had no idea such a thing existed, and it felt like the waist was under my shoulders.
Knowing this was a one-time sale, the salesperson looked at my mom and said, “Husky pants only come in high waists this year, because boys are supposed to wear their pants above their belly button.”
I was mortified! “Mom won’t, she wouldn’t, she can’t,” I thought.
Thankfully, Mom politely handed the pants to the salesperson, turned us around, and drove the 45 miles back to Wauseon through the golden-topped cornfields, straight to Mr. Sauber at Shaw’s.
Looking back, there are a few lessons from clothes shopping in Toledo. From the perspective of a young and impressionable boy, hearing an “expert” tell us that’s the only style in husky for the year was deflating, frustrating, and infuriating.
Your customers and clients have options, and one-size-fits-all doesn’t work well for anyone:
What problem are you solving for this client?
How do you find out what the problem is and not the symptom?
What can you do to turn a transactional sale into a long-term relationship?
How do you like to feel after you make a purchase?
What do your customers want to feel?
How do you create that feeling?
Selling is hard.
That’s the reason the best salespeople don’t sell. Instead, the best, especially for large purchases, ask questions and have a conversation that lets the buyer understand the value of the solution because the buyer knows, likes, and trusts you.
Effective leadership is critical to running a successful franchise. So, let’s connect and discuss how The Franchise Owner’s Dashboard can help you develop your skills and lead your team to greater heights. Please send me a LinkedIn message to start our conversation.
