Your Inner CEO: "Hey, what's your problem?"

An old business truism states that everyone is really a salesperson. At every moment we’re all selling something. It may be a product or service, or it may be we’re just selling ourselves.

With that principle in mind, one of the strongest principles of marketing psychology is the concept that buyers don't really buy products or services. They don’t buy special features. They don't buy innovations, and they don’t buy bells and whistles. What they do buy is the perception that a product or service (or an individual) will make their lives easier in some very practical way. They buy the solution to a problem.

For example, a flat screen television might include the feature of internet connectivity. That’s technically impressive, but it’s only meaningful if a customer has the desire to connect to the internet through his television. And it’s most meaningful if the customer has been trying to connect a TV to the internet and has been having trouble doing it. No one is going to make a purchase simply because of a positive feature. But lots of people will make a purchase if that feature relieves them from some form of pain.

It's the savings in money, time, and aggravation that the customer is really buying. A salesperson who formulates a sales proposition or product offer around those benefits will sell far more internet TV's than someone who simply offers television with internet connectivity. The goal of solution-oriented selling is to create an offer that does two things at once. It highlights what the product or service will do -- and most importantly it links those capabilities to relieving some discomfort that the buyer now has to endure.

Making this happen involves deeper levels of questioning and exploration than was expected in the past. This kind of exploration brings greater understanding of the client’s needs, and the questioning process itself builds trust, rapport, and empathy with the client. Variations of this process have been followed instinctively by highly gifted executives for many years – but now it’s really essential for everyone who wants to do well in the profession. Tools that were previously known to only a few have become prerequisites for working in the new, faster-paced environment.

Needs-sensitive communication involves not only knowing what a client’s conscious requirements are – but also revealing a whole new set of problems and solutions that the clients themselves may have been unaware of. You are now not only the provider of a product or service, but a consultant and collaborator. The role is similar to that of professionals in engineering, law, finance, and other relatively abstract areas of business. 

You may drive a taxi, but but don't think of yourself as a taxi driver. In the 21st Century, you're an urban travel consultant.