While this might seem like a dog story it really isn't. It is about salespeople who find they are working like a dog and getting little or no results. In some cases, they are in fact, barking up the wrong tree, or in this case person(s). This article is about selling the right product to the right person. It is about knowing who to sell the technical stuff to and who to sell the financial Return On Investment (ROI) information to. It is about finding the person who can say yes and convincing those who can say no that they should say yes.

Finding the pain

A good salesperson will sniff out pain like a good hunting dog might. This is especially true when we are involved in a complex sale. There is usually more than one person who can say no to a proposal and we need to know who those individuals are. However, the best person to uncover is the one who has the most pain which our product or service will eliminate. This person will often become the champion of the product and assist us along the way to make our sale a reality. They certainly will have the most to gain if our proposal is granted.

Questions lead to pain

The fastest way to uncover pain is to ask appropriate questions of the pers

on you are working with. If we ask the vice president of marketing what their problems are in mailing, they probably won't know. It isn't that they are insensitive. It is probably because they aren't familiar with the details of the problem. However, the vice president will be sensitive to methods and service you can provide that will reduce their costs and improve their situation. We just need to find out where the pain is and how to eliminate it with our product and services. Once we have this information; we can propose our idea to the vice president and get the approval we are looking for.

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