The first sales book I remember reading was the One Minute Salesperson. Part of the summary was the line “selling is about helping people get the feelings they want.” The concept stuck in my mind for years and deepened later when I heard that “people buy on emotion and justify with logic”.
As humans, we make decisions based on intuition and how we think the outcome will make us feel, and we use whatever logic we can to justify our choice. If you think humans are completely rational and objective, this BBC documentary shares an alternative view.
Understanding a customers needs is at the core of solution selling and its many varieties. Buyers may want to solve a problem, lower cost, increase revenue, start something new or safely enable staff to work from home.
Selling in a virtual environment makes finding that out more difficult. Learning about a customers real motivation (their subjective, personal and underlying needs) is harder still.
A virtual conversation requires a higher level of empathy, curiosity, thoughtful questions and exceptional listening. Even in a HD video call it’s a challenge to learn about their real reasons, concerns, biases or personal preferences. You can’t expect to learn all that in on email.
Thankfully the approach, skills and practices that work in face to face meetings, also work really well in virtual meetings. That includes:
- Creating a plan that starts by seeing things from their point fo view
- Demonstrating empathy and a genuine intent to make a positive difference
- Asking questions that come from curiosity and an interest to learn
- Patience, attentive listening and remaining open to unexpected answers
Not everyone is as comfortable in virtual meetings as they are face to face, but in both situations having a solid plan makes a difference. Part of any call plan should be thinking ahead to how you would like the other person to feel at the end of the call. Maybe you’re hoping they’ll feel committed, enlightened, curious, relieved, excited or more confident?
The finish of your next virtual call is a stepping stone to the real goal, which is being the one that provides a solution that helps them get the feelings they want. If you don’t know that they “really” want, it’s hard to know if your solution is going to get them there.
STRATEGY CAPABILITY COACHING 