Have you seen the LendingTree.com commercial. It starts off with Karen sitting in front of a desk with a guy in a suit sitting behind it. (Apparently, they’re in a bank.) Karen says, “I just wanted you to know that I was going with Lending Tree.” He asks, “Why?” and she goes into a list of benefits that justify her purchase.
The final exchange goes like this.
Him: “But Karen, you work here!”
Karen: “Awkward, isn’t it?”
That got me thinking…..”Would you buy your solution from you and/or your company?”
Don’t give a ‘knee-jerk’, “Yes.” Think about it.
Are you the cheapest? Do you deserve to be because you have the crappiest solution?
Are you the most expensive? Are you overpriced? What causes you to be pricey?
Are you
- the most complex? simplest?
- the most comprehensive? basic?
- the most leading edge? old-fashioned?
How’s your service department? Are they they busiest because your solution has so many issues? or lonely because there’s never any issues?
Is your company not profitable and going out of business?
There are many other questions, but the bottom line questions are:
Knowing what you know, if you were your prospect, would you buy from you?
and
If your customer knew what you know, would they buy from you?
Can you sell the truth and will your prospect buy it?
If you can’t but you want to, contact me.
RainMakers & Sales Rock Stars 
Without hesitation I am comfortable stating that we are very good, probably exceptional at what we do.
Bottom line answers, after thinking about them (as instructed): “Probably,” and “yes.” If I were my prospect, I would PROBABLY buy from me. If our prospects knew what we know, I believe they WOULD buy from us. As we have gotten better at understanding the REAL problem we are solving for the prospect, without assuming too much, we have increased the probability that our proposed solution will match the prospect’s perceived need. At the same time, we have worked to be better at making sure that the prospect sees the same problem in the same way that we do, and vice versa. This makes it almost certain that our solution truly solves the problem the prospect perceives, making it very easy for them to buy from us. We are neither cheap, basic, simple, nor old-fashioned, but we make every effort to be fair in establishing the value of the solutions we provide. When we do all of this well, we are selling the truth, and our prospects become our customers.
Rob,I’m getting used to your comments. Always thoughtful and on point, backed up by experience.Perhaps we should have you pick a topic and guest post?
I love Rob’s answer. The answer for me is “yes”. I bet most salespeople and small business owners that sell higher level stuff (eg sales training, online marketing, recruiting, etc) don’t even know what their clients true challenges are. I lost a deal today to a competitor because our solution wasn’t “simple enough” even though our solution would add more to his bottomline. I could have made it simpler for him if I had asked the right questions. My company could make it simpler for him if we tailored our service to his needs. If I put it in terms of my clients needs, I’ve had clients come on board so I could help them with online marketing for many reasons that I would not have thought about until asking, such as: 1. I lose money if my salespeople don’t have leads to work or my crew doesn’t have a job to work. 2. I’m launching a new product and I need to refocus my website on that. I am going to spend a lot of money developing this product. If my website doesn’t sell it, I am going to lose a lot of money. When I figure out these problems, it becomes easier for me to help my clients justify an investment in time and money to make my solutions work for them. Or it makes it easier for me to determine whether my solution might not help them. Either way, like Rob says, it’s about establishing the value. If competitors offer more value or address your prospect’s needs better, you don’t deserve the business. All that said, if someone needs the simple, basic old fashioned way of generating leads online, I don’t think I can help them.