Someone once said, “people don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.”
There’s a tremendous wisdom to that short sentence as well as numerous far reaching aspects that cover many facets of many businesses. More on those, another time.
Left to their own resources, people will buy. They will buy technology gear, life insurance, lawn mowers, Chevys, Toyotas and Fords. They will buy houses.
So how do you (or me for that matter) get them to buy from us? One way is to find their why and then get out of the way. In other words, let them buy. Effective salespeople are at their best when serving as a buying catalyst. They are the lightening rod through which their people buy. They serve willingly, knowledgeably and without icky sales pressure in their buyer’s process. They don’t worry about the deal, they focus their attention on their people.
More importantly they know two things: 1) they know why they do what they do for a living and 2) they are able to reach that same why part of the brain of their buyer during the process. “People don’t buy what you do,” says Simon Sinek, author of the book Start With Why “they buy why you do it.”
They also buy based on their own why.
No one buys a house because they need a bigger house. That’s a reason, or a WHAT. People buy the WHY behind the bigger house. That’s motivation, or simply put, the WHY. Great salespeople (and companies) know this. The rest need to learn.
Search for my what and we’ll both be frustrated. Get to my why and you’ve got me.