Maybe It’s Because You Can’t Answer One Basic Question

Why should I buy from you instead of the company I am buying from?

You can’t answer this question by telling me it’s because of your products, your technologies or your price.

Every company has those things.

I estimate that 95% of all field sellers can’t answer this one basic question—and I’d bet most of their CEO’s can’t either.

However, the answer to this question is the only thing that keeps your audience’s attention and, ultimately, keeps your customers buying.

Since most sales reps can’t answer the most common question that comes up on every sales call, they lose their audience.

Where has your audience gone over the past few years (you know, all of the people who used to buy from you)?

You call them customers, but I call them your audience since they are quite similar—both groups look forward to seeing you perform.

Customers have the desire to listen attentively and, like audiences, they support you as long as you show respect by giving them what they came for—value.

When you stop delivering value, they leave.

This cannot happen.  

Your audience needs to grow significantly in size every year.  The larger your audience, the more you sell.

Has your audience gotten smaller?

Is it getting harder for you to get and keep your entire customer-base long term?

If the answer to both of those questions is yes, it’s because you can’t answer the basic question, “Why should I buy from you instead of the one I currently buy from?”

After all, if you can’t tell a grower why he should buy from you instead of a competitor, how would he know?

Sales reps that don’t spend at least half of their time planning for how to answer this question usually end up watching their audience dwindle in size year after year.  The most important thing you can do to prepare for the new selling season is to practice answering this crucial question.

If you don’t, you may soon find yourself playing to an empty auditorium.