“Get Inside Your Customers’ Heads and Then Watch the Sales Roll In”

Customer-focused selling means you must get into your customers’ heads, finding out what they are thinking and why, and get your sales process in sync with your customers’ buying process.

The Eight Roles of Selling

1. The Student. Study how changes are affecting your prospects and find opportunities where you can add value.
2. The Doctor. Ask questions that diagnose your customers’ discontent and uncover their needs.
3. The Architect. Design unique solutions that simplify your customers’ research while setting the ground rules in your favor. Translate tangible concepts of what they need into more definite buying criteria.
4. The Coach. As your prospect compares your offering to that of the competition, your goal is to defeat your opponents without cutting price.
5. The Therapist. Draw out fears and help resolve them. The closer people get to making a major commitment, the more they focus on the future consequences. Look for indications that the prospect is nervous.
6. The Negotiator. The goal is to reach a mutual commitment to open a relationship, not to hammer close the sale.

   Key point: Prepare to negotiate by determining what you want from the agreement and by generating a list of high-value concessions other than price.

7. The Teacher. Immediately after a sale, help the buyer get a clear understanding of his expectations to know when and if value has been achieved.

   Key point: Make sure your customer knows how to use your product or service.

8. The Farmer. The role of the farmer is to cultivate satisfaction and to grow the account. Get closer to your customer during the sales process—and after as well.

Writer: Kevin Davis is president of Kevin Davis Selling Systems LLC, Danville, Calif., which provides sales and sales management training programs to corporations; www.customershead.com.