Truth VI: Solve Important Problems

Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought.
- Albert Szent-Gyorgi

Anytime you help someone solve a problem, they are much more likely to like and trust you. Problem solvers are so rare these days, especially among salespeople, that they are always in demand. If you approach every call with the attitude of discovering what you can do to help your prospect, your success will astound you. As salespeople, we need to more to discover what we can do to help others.

Position yourself with prospects so that they see you as a trusted advisor and partner in their problem. Establish rapport with frequent face-to-face visits. Involve several people from your company to increase input, value, and resources into your prospects pain. Go above and beyond expectation to help your prospect solve a problem that is unrelated to your company or product. They will begin to see you as a problem solver, not a salesperson. Also utilize targeted information and articles and do research to help your prospect stay up to date on the most recent trends in their industry or targeted towards their pain. Selling is both logical and emotional.

When you are presenting the solution, you need to present to both the logical and emotional sides of the brain. When you are selling to the logical person, use features and benefits tied to their PAIN, statistics, charts and graphs, third party reference letters, and independent articles. When selling to the emotional person, use stories, word pictures, and questions designed to emotionally involve the prospect, and descriptions that help them see a visual image.

When Problem Solving, Remember to:

• Position Yourself
• Any Problem, Any Time
• Tip The Scales