Want to know how you can make your selling and enrolling a lot easier?
Stop solving problems.
“But Martin, you fool! Solving problems for my clients is the whole reason I’m in business. It’s what I do, it’s what I get paid for!"
Ok, that’s good – I like you already.
Very often though – and I see this all the time – people are much too quick to come up with a solution.
They hear about a problem, and go straight into problem-solving mode.
But before you get to that point of solving problems, it is really important that you dedicate yourself to the process of problem-finding, first.
That’s the mode you should be in, when you start engaging with a buyer.
You ask, your probe, you query… you do all you can to get to the heart of the matter.
That way, you learn the ins and outs of what a buyer is actually trying to accomplish with you, and – very importantly – you shine such a big spotlight of clarity on the problem and all its implications, that the buyer themselves will ask:
“Hey, how would you solve this for us?”
That’s the point where you get to talk about your solution. Not before.
Otherwise, your buyer will feel bypassed, you’ll appear tone-deaf or self-involved (“Look at my great solution!”, aka the mousetrap-trap) and there won’t be any sale.
As I’ve said before:
Ask about their problems, right up until the moment that they ask you about your solution.