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Sales reps learning to pitch and sell their products is an essential part of success at the beginning of the journey. If you don’t know your product, organization, industry, your value proposition – it’s going to be tough to communicate effectively with prospects and customers, much less influence them.
Practice and repetition are key, so we can move away from thinking about what needs to be said and we can move towards how we customize what we say in every unique selling conversation. It’s easy to stay in a product-centric rhythm – requesting time with buyers to talk about our(financial) product and what we thinkit can do for them.
The truth is that buyers/merchants don’t care about your product, your organization or what you think you can do for them, UNLESS you’re solving a business problem OR helping them achieve a DESIRED OUTCOME.
J. Keenan has a great rundown of what he calls product-centric sales reps vs problem-centric sales reps (bold):
Talk about their product --> Talk about customer business problems
Focus on their company --> Focus on the buyer
Tell/Explain --> Ask questions
Motivated solely by quota --> Motivated by customer success (and quota)
Are product experts --> Are business analysts
Have technical discussions --> Have business discussions
Reach to demand --> Create Demand
Operate solely from scripts and elevator pitches --> Improvise off of scripts when appropriate/customize every engagement
Emails and cold calls to ask to talk about their product --> Emails and cold calls to ask to discuss business problems
Don’t know why customer “needs” to or wants to buy --> Know the buyer’s intrinsic motivations to change
Are quick to lower the price --> Rarely compete on price
Is challenged by the buyer --> Challenge the buyer
Are unable to control the sale --> Control the sale
Sell features and benefits --> Sell an outcome
Close hard at the end --> Helps buyer close themselves
Builds relationships on likability --> Build relationships on credibility and results
Need to be liked --> Don’t need to be liked
Being problem-centric enables Funding Pros to be more effective at uncovering what are the true needs of the merchant/buyer, but the level above this is embracing that what every buyer really wants to achieve is desired outcome (even if its through the means of solving a problem). Whether they are conscious of it or not, they want to move from one present state to another desired state in the business. That's where you come in.
Merchants don't buy funding products, they buy outcomes. What outcomes are you helping merchants achieve daily?
-FundingStrategist
https://fundingstrat.com
https://fundingstrat.com/outcome-cen...ntric-selling/
