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It’s Only Common Sense: Are You Selling What Your Customers Want?

Our customers will buy what they want, not what we want to sell. That’s kind of a pain, isn’t it? No matter how great our product is, how compelling our sales pitch, or how absolutely convinced we are about the product, if they don’t want it, they won’t buy it.

So many of us spend too much time trying to convince our customers to buy what we’re selling and not enough time listening to what they want. We all do it. It’s a bad habit we need to break.

We spend hours on sales strategies, developing tactics to get our customers to buy what we’re selling. But I don’t think we’re spending enough time—maybe no time—on trying to find out probably the most important thing.

I have a friend who owns a circuit board shop. He recently told me his company had grown by over 30% last year. As I was about to congratulate him on his good work, he interrupted and said it was not growth in the right business. His global sourcing business—the boards he bought from offshore companies—had grown by over 40% while the sales from the boards he built in his North American facility had stayed the same. I quickly understood—the boards he had bought offshore and sold to his customers were what they preferred; it was what they wanted. I emphasized that his customers were speaking loud and clear with their orders and their dollars. They want his offshore business; the strategic direction of the company is laid out in front of him. He needs to expand his offshore boards. He must listen to his customers and give them want they want.

Remember all the sales advice we’ve received over the years? How often have we been told to shut up and listen? But most of the time we have not listened; we have not absorbed the message.

Most salespeople are so busy telling their customers what they can do for them, how great their company is, how their products are so much better than the others. They seldom leave time for the customer to fit a word in edgewise.

It's all so simple, though. Great salespeople always seem to find a way. They are relaxed and content, blowing us away with their sales forecasts and quotas.

I see great salespeople as Al Pacino’s character Ricky Roma in “Glen Garry Glen Ross.” While all the other salespeople were complaining about the leads, their bosses, and their lousy customers, old Ricky just breezed along making his numbers, all the way to winning that first prize Cadillac. What was the difference? He played the cards he was dealt, and I am certain the most important thing he did was give the customers what they wanted.

Another trait of a great salesperson is to question their customers, especially the ones you meet for the time. You can develop interview skills that would make Barbara Walters jealous. What was her secret? She always had the “customer” talking about what is most important to themselves, their company, and their needs. She let them tell her what they wanted.

There it is right there. Let your customers develop your sales strategy for their accounts. As a salesperson, if you are patient and curious enough to ask the right questions, you will learn everything you need to know about successfully serving that customer.

The same applies to current accounts. Don’t stop listening to them, no matter how much time has gone by. You will learn the direction they are headed, their plans, and how they want to get there. Then you’ll be poised to offer what you have to sell, and they’ll be ready for it.

Sales strategy is not difficult, so instead of sitting around a mahogany table with your team for hours, scratching your heads, and trying to determine the direction to take your company, spend more time listening to your customers. They will tell you what they need and what you can provide them. It’s as simple as that.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.