Don’t assume sellers desires/needs. Don’t defend or waste time discussing features in which the buy is not interested. Tailor sales to focus on the advantages that fulfill a need the buyer explicitly expresses.

The key is selling is not what you know, but what your buyer sees.

Three levels of need: Latent > Pain/Active Need > Vision a solution

The difference between latent need and pain is hope.

Most peoples mind can hold and focus about seven subjects or ideas at one time. This is the number of issues, concerns, “balls in the air”, or needs most individual human beings can manage simultaneously. So we must focus on energies to occupy the foreground brain of our buyers with an issue that our product or service addresses.

Take the time to diagnose a solution, even through you think you already know what the buyer needs. This is key in gaining buyer loyalty when creating, participating, or reengineering the buyer’s vision of a solution.

Because businesses and their sellers often have superior product and capability knowledge, they see the buyer’s situation and start prescribing solutions. These sellers suffer from seller impatience (premature elaboration).

Often, a seller sees a problem and the solution; the buyer does not. Don’t be a “feature creature”.

How can I get in the customers mind when they’re not looking (95% of the time) so we’re in the lead position to create a vision of a solution when the buy is ready (5%).

Do not use a product to sell. Use a product to prove. Features should be used to prove a product or service can match the buyer’s vision.

Part of the sellers mental risk management process causes them to ask, “what could go wrong here”. Help the buyer get over their concerns associated with buying. Answer, “am I getting the best prices?”, “what if I delay?”, “Will they be responsive after I sign the contract?”, “What if I do nothing?”.

The 4 shifting concerns of the buyer

• Do I have a need?
• Do I have a solution to my need?
• What will be the cost?
• What is the risk of buying, or not buying?

When a buyer begins to verbalize his concerns to the seller, the buyer is actually saying,“I can see myself signing your contract, but I have to work through all the fears I have”.

Honorable Selling

• The seller must believe that she can truly bring value to the potential buyer
• The seller must be willing to tell the truth about her product or service
• The buyer must feel good about the progress
• The buyer’s expectations are met