Selling: Why Do People Do Things?

If you’re an engineer new to selling, the word “sales” may have a nasty ring. Perhaps it conveys “getting somebody to do something they don’t want to”. Perhaps it invokes thoughts of pushiness or even sliminess. But at core, “selling” is another word for “convincing” or “inspiring”. Selling is a series of steps and techniques designed to bring another human being to see your point of view. And not just seeing that POV, but agreeing enough that they take action, typically by writing a check.

Nothing big ever happens in this world without motivating other humans to participate. Selling is a core component of leadership. Selling techniques are time-tested and experience-honed and many of them are relevant no matter what venture you’re building, whether you’re selling a product, raising money, or making a social change.

The person you are selling to is a human, and all humans have common desires and preferences. If you understand these basic desires, you’ll be much more efficient and capable at bringing them to your side.

Value #

People buy things that are valuable to them.

The most important thing to understand in selling is that you are not trying to push something on someone that they don’t want. They need what you have; they just don’t understand why yet. At the end of the day, people will buy from you for selfish interests - they will cut you a check because their own life will be better. If you are selling something that others don’t need, you have a bigger problem and should step back and work to discover a different, perhaps related problem.

Your first step is to understand what problem your customer has that you are solving. You must be able to convey what that problem is, and when they hear that problem, they must say “Yes! That is a huge problem for me!”

Note that this is completely different from telling your prospect about your solution and them saying “Wow! That’s a really cool solution you have!” That may feel nice, but a cool solution is not important; a big problem is what matters.

Once it’s established that a prospect has the big problem, of course, you must have a compelling solution to that problem.

Your value may not be what you think it is. For example, if you make an automated floor-sweeper, you may believe your value is a clean floor. But your customer may be happy with their current clean floor, and instead find value in your reduced cost, or your ability to clean after hours, etc. The value is all in the mind of your customer. So you must start with your hypothetical value, then work with customers to truly uncover your value. And as you better understand the value, you must talk to your prospects in those terms, not in terms of your own perceived values.

Qualifying #

Some people don’t need what you have and will never buy.

You may have the greatest product in the world, but if it is not valuable to the person you are talking to, they will never buy it, and you both are wasting your time. Early on you need to figure out if this account is potentially successful. If what you are selling is not useful to them, or they don’t have money, or they already have an existing solution and are happy with it, you are wasting your time. It’s very easy to burn a ton of energy only to realize it’s a dead end. Sales is a percentages game; even if you’re successful, there will be many accounts you will not win. So it’s important to spend your precious minutes with accounts that have the highest probability of buying from you.

Spend time figuring out what a successful account looks like, and develop qualifying questions that you can ask. For example, you want to be sure that:

• the problem you are solving exists at this account and is severe for them. This is actually several criteria and questions, which are specific to your solution.
• they have budget to resolve it (this isn’t really a qualifying question, as it may be determined later, but if you discover for example that relevant budgets are frozen for the next 6 months, that’s important)
• they don’t already have a competitive solution which they’re happy with

Building relationship and developing trust #

People do business with people they trust.

People will go out of their way to work with people they trust, and they will go way out of their way to avoid people they don’t trust. This is always true, but if what you are selling is big and/or involves a long-term commitment, it’s extra critical because your prospect knows this will not be a one-time event.

Trust cannot be built overnight; it takes time. Expect that you will need to meet many times with many people, and treat this as a process that will by its nature take time.

Continually demonstrate trustability:

• Do the things you say you’ll do.
• Show up to appointments on time.
• Deliver things you promise completely, on-time and of high quality.

Referrals/Introductions #

People trust people they already trust

The herd instinct is strong; there is safety in numbers; no one wants to be a guinea pig.

Trust is transferrable: if a trusted third-party trusts you, this increases your trust. Find trusted third-parties and reference them with your account.

Trusted third-parties can include:

• existing customers: use these to give potential customers confidence
• professional references: these can validate that your offering does what you say it does
• personal references: these can validate that you are personally trustable

If you don’t have existing customers, introduce customers that are close to closing and they can instill confidence in each other.

When first calling on prospects, you are best to get in through an introduction. Do your homework and see if you can find that intro:

• Look to LinkedIn or other social networks to find common connections. Investigate the account ahead of time; build a list of people you’d like to talk to who would be the DM or an Influencer, and search for connections to each of them.
• Work your network. Ask your friends/connections for connections. Be specific of the type of account you’re looking for.
• As you talk to prospects, always ask them if they know of other accounts that could have the problem you solve. Ask for intros.

Confidence #

People like to work with confident people.

Confidence conveys that you believe in what you are selling. Your prospect is far more likely to buy if they perceive you really believe in it yourself. Conversely, there is no way they’ll buy if they perceive you don’t.

Have Something You Believe In #

First, you must truly believe in your heart that you have something of tremendous value. If you don’t feel that, take some time to reflect and either come to that conclusion or change things so that you do. If you really believe what you are selling is important, it will be obvious to others.

Do not be intimidated #

You are the peer of the person you are meeting with. They are not giving you charity if they buy what you are selling; what you have to offer is an equal trade of values.
If you go to a sandwich shop and buy a sandwich, you are not giving charity; the store got money and you got a sandwich; both parties benefited. This is true in the transaction you’d like to conduct with your prospect.

Fake It Till You Make It #

Confidence is much easier when everything is going well, when everyone is buying your thing, and everyone tells you how wonderful you are. The fact is, that’s rarely the norm, and is almost never the norm when you start off. Many people will tell you “no”; many will not like your offering; many will be rude to you personally. It’s imperative that you convey confidence in the face of this.

Practice your interactions in front of a mirror. Practice with friends or coworkers. Be sure you can convey confidence and enthusiasm.

Respect and Personal Interest #

People prefer people they respect and like personally.

Be personable. Care about the people you interact with. Don’t treat this as a task towards taking their money; genuinely take an interest in them. Do upfront homework. Find out what companies they’ve worked at before, what roles they’ve held, what professional organizations they’ve belonged to. Find things in common.
In meetings, find out about their interests. Remember their hobbies, kid’s names, etc. Reference these in future meetings.

Respect them. Take their concerns seriously, and treat your interaction as a learning experience for both of you, where their experiences can be very relevant and valuable to you personally. Appreciate that they’ve taken the time to work with you. Don’t waste their time.

Valuable Communications #

People like valuable communications that don’t waste their time.

When meeting or emailing, don’t waste the other parties time. Be prepared, have solid information that will be relevant to them.

In initial emails:

• say something personally or professionally relevant to the recipient that makes it clear this isn’t a form letter.
• be short and concise. More than a paragraph or two will not get read. Be respectful.
• call out clearly the problem you are solving for the recipient. Different recipients have different problems, and you must be sure your message is tailored.
• call out clearly but succinctly why you have a solution. Do not include any more detail than necessary.
• contain a call-to-action, i.e. something you want the recipient to do. Typically this is to respond or meet with you.

The most important thing about this email is to understand its goal, which is (usually) to get a meeting. The goal is not to sell the customer your product. If the email gets you the meeting, it was successful. Be concise and focused.

Objections #

People buy things when they don’t have a reason to say “no.”

From the moment of your first interaction with an account, there exist reasons in their mind why they are not interested in advancing to the next step. These are called objections. Objections are not a bad thing; they are a natural part of the human process of decision-making. When someone is considering making a change in their life, especially a big one, they will consider all of the potential problems it can introduce.

As objections are overcome, others will take their place. It is only after all objections are overcome that a prospect will be comfortable with buying your product.

So, understanding and overcoming objections is a critical process for you.

Understanding Objections #

At any time during the sales cycle, it is imperative you understand the current objections.

Often, a prospect will openly share their objections. They may say “This is too expensive.” or “I like this feature in your competitors product better.”

In meetings, watch body language to uncover objections. Crossing arms, shaking head, looking at clock, apparent loss of interest, etc. Uncover objections when you see these: “I see you shaking your head; what’s concerning you about this point?”

If the customer hasn’t told you their concerns, ask them directly: “What are your concerns?” “What do you like and not like about what we’ve talked about?”

Overcoming Objections #

Once you have discovered objections, you must figure out how to resolve them.

Some typical ways to overcome objections:

• Education: Perhaps they really didn’t understand and you must explain how their concern is not real.
• Reference: Perhaps they are concerned about your product’s capability, or about your personal ability. A good reference can resolve this.
• Detail/Analysis: Perhaps you need to do some research and call out specific details that they are concerned about.
• Benefit Outweighs Cost: Perhaps the objection is valid, but the delivered value dramatically outweighs it. Demonstrating this can overcome.

Remember: Never sweep objections under the covers and hope for the best. People don’t cross the street until they are confident there are no cars coming.

Momentum #

People lose interest if they are distracted by other things.

If your prospect is interested, it’s important to maintain momentum by meeting or interacting with them again quickly. If you wait too long, other things will become a priority for them, and when you do re-engage, you’ll have to start again from the beginning. This is true for everybody, but if you are selling something big, your prospect is in a position of power and authority and is very busy, so this is doubly true.

At each meeting, make sure that you leave with a date and agenda for the next meeting.

Closing #

People will do things if they are guided and encouraged to do them.

Always be closing.

In every interaction with the prospect, your goal is to get them one step closer to being closed. This means that in each stage, you must ask the customer if they can advance to the next desired step, culminating in asking them to sign.

Trial Closing #

Test a prospect to see how serious they are and what their objections are. You can ask “If I do X, would you do Y?” If they respond “yes”, you have a soft commitment, which is a powerful step towards getting a hard commitment, and can also be useful in working with other Influencers in the account (“Mary said she’s interested; where do you stand?”). If they say “well, we’d have to talk about Z”, then you’ve uncovered an objection. And if they say “I think it’s a cool idea, but it’s not really right for me”, you know where you stand and can work on uncovering their objections or stop wasting time and move on.

Even at a first meeting, you should say something soft like “Is this something you might be interested in?” You always want to understand where you stand and be influencing the prospect towards the next step.

Events #

People are more likely to accomplish something when there is a deadline.

Some deadlines are external; maybe there is an upcoming trade show or the end of a budget cycle is approaching. Use these events to drive people to decisions. Where external events or deadlines don’t exist, do your best to create them.

Conclusion #

tl;dr: At core, you will best influence other people not by pushing yourself on them, but instead by understanding their needs and goals and tailoring your pitch to them. Respect them. Guide them. Listen to them. Deliver something to them of tremendous value.