We’re big fans of Jeff Thull here at The Hire Sense and we always try to keep up with his articles.  This one from Inc.com – Three Keys to a Successful New Year – is well worth the read.  Ok, we might be a bit late getting to this one since it’s theme is for the new year.

I have always appreciated a doctor analogy for selling and I think Thull lays out a good example here:

Like an experienced doctor who continually diagnoses for problems and recognizes symptoms, you see the issues your solutions address far more frequently than your customers do. You know the business drivers that your solutions impact and the symptoms that verify that your customer’s performance is at risk. You know what to look for and how to help. To determine if those symptoms exist, develop a diagnostic approach to clarify the situation with your customer. Don’t let the customer self diagnose when they don’t clearly understand the problem to be solved. Leverage your experience and become an advisor who helps your customer optimize their performance.

Many salespeople get lost in this truth.  The customer will often attempt to “self-diagnose” and then perform surgery on themselves too.  The reason behind their avoidance of change is straight-forward:

A fundamental element of behavior is that people will change if the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. As a result, customers tend to avoid change and the risks associated with it. They know that making changes to the organization’s operations, systems or processes will be difficult, lengthy, and resource consuming. Why would they personally take on that pressure?

Read the article an you will Thull’s 3 points for repositioning your company for more sales in 2008.

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