BRX Pro Tip: Think Like a Buyer
Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, you are so much better than I am at this, but I think it’s good counsel – think like a buyer.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, a lot of salespeople approach sales as a salesperson. And a lot of times, they’d be better served to really kind of get in the shoes of the person they’re selling to, the buyer, and really empathize with what the buyer is going through and how the buyer is seeing the world, rather than through the lens of the seller, because you got to remember, buyers are focused on solving their problems, they’re focused on minimizing their risk, and they want to maximize whatever value that they can get. Sellers, sometimes, get caught up in just kind of spitting out the features and hitting their own sales targets. So, they’re not really kind of living in the shoes of their buyers. They’re focusing on what they need and what’s in it for them. And I think it’s so much more effective to really understand it through the eyes of the buyer.
Lee Kantor: So, you have to understand the buyer’s perspective. And that’s going to help you help them more because you’re going to be focusing in on addressing their fears and their objections genuinely, not in that icky sales way, but generally, genuinely and empathetically, which is going to foster trust.
Lee Kantor: So, number two, remember that buyers want outcomes. They don’t want features. Whatever the thing you think your service provides really isn’t important. What they want is the outcome that they desire. So, you have to frame your offering around how it solves their challenge or how it solves their problem. You have to become more relevant and persuasive and not just kind of shout out all the cool things your service provides.
Lee Kantor: Number three, you got to understand, buyers are a lot smarter today and more knowledgeable than they were back in the day. Buyers have done research. They’ve compared things. They’ve deliberated already. So, you have to kind of match their pace and their knowledge by providing whatever they need at whatever stage they are in order to reduce the friction that they need in order to buy whatever it is you’re selling. So, you have to kind of be more knowledgeable than them, and you have to be able to help them discern what you’re offering versus all the other choices out there.
Lee Kantor: And when you see the process through the buyer’s eyes, you’re going to prepare for objections, you’re going to prepare for any type of hesitations, and you’re not going to be caught off guard because you’ve already kind of thought a lot of this through and you’re prepared. So, thinking like a buyer is going to shift your approach from selling into serving, which is the foundation of lasting client relationships and more successful sales over time.
Lee Kantor: So, remember, you’re there to help them solve a problem. You’re not there to really sell what you have. If you’re helping them solve a problem, a lot of times, it’ll be with what you’re selling but, sometimes, it won’t be. And that’s okay too. And when that happens, you’re going to be able to get them to think of you maybe down the road or think of you when it comes to referring your service to other people they might know.
