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Ron Stein
Sales and Marketing Advice for Florida Business
Understanding the 'why' of people who buy
There’s a saying in sales and marketing that goes like this: “Nobody who’s ever bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole.”
But the big question is, WHY do they need the hole?
The person that wants that drill could be buying memories in the form of family photos hung on the walls of their home. Or perhaps building a backyard swing set so they can enjoy hours of fun family time with the kids, thus creating joy and memories too.
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, knew he wasn’t selling computers. Instead, he and his company created tools to unleash human potential. Wow, now that’s I want!
As Zig Ziggler, author and salesman, said, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Which leads me to this point: Ask yourself, what are you really selling?
Oh sure, it’s a product or service you say. But describing benefits is not enough to attract customers. Time to flip your thinking and zero in on the deep-down desire that drives your specific audience. Figure out their motivation - their why.
In other words, first understand why they need the hole. That’s how you’ll help people achieve their aspirations and win them over.
Obsess over the behavior of your customers. Amazon is obsessive about understanding the how and why of the people who shop on their website. They track everything and seek almost instant feedback -- in the past, while online shopping, and in the future. After all, the future equates to opportunity. So, once Amazon gets to know you, they recommend products you want, and in most cases need because they know you extremely well. Yes, this seems a little creepy and maybe self-centered, yet the customer experience is vastly improved and it helps buyers make better buying decisions that ultimately benefit them.
How to connect the dots. Each year Amazon managers are placed on the front lines and perform a couple of days of call-center duty. It’s about listing to the customer. Aside from resolving problems, the managers ask questions to get to heart of understanding the customer’s mindset and what they really need to be happy. You don’t need a call center to do this; try rotating members of your team through key customer touch points on a regular basis. Give them a mission, to learn as well as help customers. Furnish a few key questions to ask. When you start with what the customer needs and then work backwards you flip the process -- the buyer’s why come first. This is intelligent customer engagement.
The most important person in the room. Customer preferences go beyond what people want -- understanding what they don’t want is key. When asking what they don’t like, make sure to get to the why. There are obvious things that you really don’t need to ask about, like delays in shipping; no one likes that. Dig deeper. For instance, for some types of products customers want more information, but maybe for your audience, they want less; because they suffer from information overload. Perhaps they don’t want too many choices, or no options at all and instead say, “Simply give me what I want!” Extend this thinking to learning what your specific audience is afraid to lose. Find out what turns people off as well as what draws them in. The people you are working for -- your customers -- are the most people in the room.
The key to creating an excellent customer experience is customer understanding. Plus, knowing preferences allows you to provide cross selling opportunities as well as generate repeat sales.
Understand what customers want before the cash register rings and then make the insights pay off. It all starts with the why of the people who buy.
Ron Stein is founder of More Customers Academy, helping business leaders build strategic messaging and positioning that cuts through the competitive noise to grow revenue. Ron has developed his own highly successful 5-step Stand Out & Sell More approach to winning new customers as a result of his twenty-five years of business development, marketing, and selling experiences. He works with a range of businesses, from startups to large corporations across industries including technology and healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services and banking. Ron conducts workshops, leads company meetings, offers keynote talks, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or by email.
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