Customers Buy The Who, Not The What

While commenting on one of my articles, Lewis Green made an intriguing observation recently. He stated that "most customers buy the who (us) not the what (products) that they can easily buy from anyone." What a statement of fact! That is such an important distinction and a lesson well worth additional discussion and remembering.

While most salespeople represent a company's product line, from pharmaceuticals to cleaning products, they are typically not the owner of the company. They do however, represent the company, sharing their brand image and reputation in the marketplace. Customers see salespeople, not the company they work for. From a customer prospective, salespeople are often synonymous with their employer. Their individual identity often fades.

The superior salesperson is aware of the importance of nurturing relationships in their selling efforts. These salespeople strive to expose their own identity, their own brand, in addition to their employer's presence. By cultivating relationships with their customers, salespeople endear themselves to customers as dependable resources. In this manner, salespeople become indispensable.

Let's face it salespeople: Assuming that your customer knows what he needs, almost without exception, he can locate an alternate source for almost any product that you sell, many times at a lesser price. Of course, many customers do not know what it is that they need to solve their problems. This very fact is responsible for your presence. Your role is to add value to the equation by being a knowledgeable and helpful resource, providing solutions, not merely products and services.

Customers do indeed buy the who, not the what. Learn that critical distinction and prosper.

...........................
Daniel Sitter
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Comments

[Lewis Green]

Dan,

Thanks for the shout out. I offer a presentation called "Selling to Small Businesses" where I emphasize inderstanding the value of the "who." Not everyone in the audience buys into the premise. But I keep sending the message because I believe it is the key to our success.