Earning new business sales is hard work, no doubt. There are numerous strategies that need to be implemented to be successful and many different ways one might approach the sales process. The key to gaining an unfair advantage in sales lies in understanding your prospect’s needs fully and asking the right questions. Instead of rushing to sell, you should focus on building a deeper conversation that uncovers all of the customer’s challenges and goals.

Recently I completed three straight days of sales training with 14 companies in attendance. When asked the question, “Do you put your customers’ needs and interests before your own?” the overwhelming majority of people enthusiastically said YES! But as we dove into how their typical sales conversations went, they quickly realized that while they started off asking good questions that were customer-needs focused, they quickly resorted back to selling a product or service.

This has been my experience for the past 20+ years. Most salespeople start out being “consultative” or having a “problem solver” approach, but as soon as the customer mentions something they can fix, they solve it immediately.

BIG MISTAKE.

Failing to continue asking great questions and listening to answers so you get a full picture of what all is going on kills the sales process.

If you want an unfair advantage in sales, then learn to resist solving problems (for the moment).

Concentrate on asking questions that engage the prospect in thought and deeper conversation.

If a customer tells you that the price they are paying is “too high,” mentioning that you are the low-cost leader sounds like a good idea, right?

WRONG!

Ask:

• What about the price is too high?
• How do they value price?
• What might they be willing to give up to lower it?

If they say they aren’t willing to give up anything, then determine if price is the only thing they need to make a change. Most of the time, it’s not price at all, but rather they aren’t getting the value they believe they deserve for the price!

Here’s the thing:

Price is an easy objection. EVERYONE wants to pay the least amount and get the most value.

The question is: What is your value, and how do you get the prospect to pay for it?

The answer is by understanding the prospect and ALL of their needs.

To truly have an unfair advantage:

• Stop selling and start understanding.
• When you have all of the facts and the situation is crystal clear, then—and only then—can you:
  • Paint a picture of their current scenario
  • Explain what you will specifically do for them
  • Show how it will solve not some, but ALL of their issues

Most salespeople won’t take the time to dig this deep, so the unfair advantage is yours for the taking.