By Debbie Depp
You're standing at the base of a tree, staring up through the tangle of branches. Dangling from a slender bough is a ripe, juicy fruit, ready to be picked. But how do you reach it?
If you swipe at it with a long pole, you may damage the branch so it never bears fruit again.
If you use a ladder, you will reach your fruit, but may miss others hidden among the branches.
The most challenging but rewarding route to your goal is through the tree itself. By gently feeling your way through the branches, you'll reach your prize and you will find others to pick.
Your customers are like a fruit tree. As a sales professional, you must consider the best route to your goal - one that will also provide insight into future sales.
To do this, you must know your customer's Decision Making Criteria (DMC). A DMC is the frame of reference and values that a customer uses when deciding whether or not to buy your products or services.
If you don't consider the customer's DMC's, then it is almost impossible to sell because you don't completely understand the customer's reasons for buying and what he values. Simply put, DMC's are the rules by which your offer will be evaluated.
If you try to sell without DMC's then you're relying on luck. That lengthens the sales cycle and positions you as a peddler instead of a partner.
As a result, you'll probably wind up selling on price, reducing margins and having a transactional relationship at best. You'll waste time and most likely will lose more sales than you'll win. You'll break the branch that bears the fruit.
In Michael Bosworth's book, Solution Selling, he describes the inability of salespeople to truly understand the level of customer needs: "Many sellers experience difficulty dealing with latent needs and have an unfortunate tendency to commit what I call premature elaboration'. Because businesses and their sellers often have superior product and capability knowledge, they see the buyer's situation, get excited, and say, 'You need a way to..., don't you?' Or something to that effect."
The key is to listen reflectively. There is a reason you have two ears and only one mouth.
Remember, no good idea ever entered the brain through an open mouth. As you ask probing, open-ended questions, listen, and then play back what you thought you heard.
This confirms understanding and demonstrates your interest and commitment to understand the customer's needs and hot buttons. Just as you'll notice hidden gems by climbing the fruit tree, you'll learn about a customer's needs by listening to what they say.
There are two types of 'needs': implied and implicit.
Implied needs are just that, hinted at by the customer. You can't be completely sure if the need is real or not. "We may be looking into expanding our MIS facility sometime in the future and buying additional laser printers." Words like 'may', 'sometime', and 'future' imply a need, but certainly don't confirm one.
Implicit needs, on the otherhand, are straightforward. "In July we are going to start developing our MIS expansion plan and the funding necessary to drive it." This statement details a timeline, action plan, and specific requirement, leaving no doubt about the need.
To know the customer's DMC's, you need to see inside the customer's mind. Rarely do we have the rapport with the customer that they openly volunteer them. You have to gradually bring them out using a technique I call, appropriately enough, a "discussion tree."
Here's the three-part anatomy of a "discussion tree":
- Starts with a statement that reveals pain or goals: Your customer may say something like, "My MIS staff is spending far too much time servicing our laser printers. I suppose I'll have to figure out a way to eliminate that burden one of these days."
- Stay on the branch: You might follow up with a question like, "Mr. Big, what is preventing you from solving that problem right now?" or "What would be the outcome if you decided not to resolve that issue for your staff?"
- Close on agreement to explore and set ground rules: "Mr. Big, its sounds like you will have to resolve this issue at some point just to keep your department operating profitably and productively. That will require an outsourced laser printer facilities management program. Would you mind if we come back to this issue a little later? I'd like to get a better feel for the issues impacting the rest of your operation."
DMC's are critical to moving forward in the sale.
Don't attempt to move forward until you understand them. Never move to the next branch, start a proposal, give a presentation, or forecast without DMC's.
If you realize you missed something or just aren't really clear about what the customer is saying, back up and ask again. "Mr. Big, there seems to be a disconnect. I must have missed something you said. Would you mind restating your concern, so I'm sure I understand it correctly?"
DMC's are based on the assumption that what motivates a customer to buy often has less to do with the product than what that product can do for them. It answers the customer's question, "So what's in it for me?" Typically, a customer will make a purchasing decision to either:
- Attain desirable results, or,
- Gain relief from pain.
The salesperson's job then is to get inside the customer's mind to determine the DMC's; then move that customer to the desired outcome.
In Joe Girard's timeless classic, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, he sums up his key to success in establishing trusting relationships with customers in the following way: "You let him talk and you listen. Before long, he trusts you enough to do what you say, which is to sign the order and buy from you."
Joe goes on to talk about the most valuable asset in selling, trust:
"Now comes the test. He buys from you, but will he regret it? Not if he trusts you and believes in you. He won't regret it if he finds that you really did treat him fairly, and that you really did make sure he understood exactly what he was buying and for how much.
"After he leaves with his purchase is the time of the real test. He got out of there safe. Now he is living with his purchase, with what he trusted you enough to buy without being absolutely sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that this was what he wanted to do.
"Now he is living with what you did to him and for him. And if you played the game fair and won the battle for both of you, you have created the most valuable asset in the selling business, a customer who trusts you because you help him get what he needed and wanted."
By thoughtfully and carefully feeling your way through the branches of your customer's needs, you'll reach your goal, take note of other opportunities and ensure that your relationship will continue to bear fruit into the future.
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