3 Steps to Focusing On Your Customers’ Mission

Sitting in a grueling sales training years ago I can recall the chill I got down my spine when I heard a sales guru (who shall remain nameless) say, “When a customer is standing in front of you, visualize your commission tattooed on his forehead.”

Perhaps you have heard something similar.

I guess the idea was for this visual to motivate me as a sales person to ‘go the extra mile’.

If I lacked any motivation or guts in asking for the sale, the visual of the tattooed forehead would scream at me to build more value, use more tie-downs or to turn into a closing monster.

Now that I think about it, it was designed to be a self-inflicted cattle prod.

As a newbie to sales, I was willing to try anything (Well, almost anything).

But this strategy always felt wrong.

Something just didn’t work in that philosophy for me.

You know what it was?

This training was not about the customers’ mission.

It was about my commission.

Don’t get me wrong, I love making commission. It’s how I have made my living for most of my career.

But I find that it is unsatisfying to focus solely on what’s in it for me.

When I talk to seasoned sales professionals around the world, they all agree on one thing: the sale is not about your commission, it’s about the customers’ mission.

If that’s the case, then how can we stay focused on the customers’ mission?

Here are a few tips to do just that.

1. Stop trying to sell your product – Yes. You read that right. Sales training for years has focused on ‘how to sell’.

Unfortunately, a ton of these techniques morphed into techniques on how to manipulate people.

Perhaps you recall the old technique, FBE, which stood for Feature, Benefit, Emotion. Another variation was FBA, Feature, Benefit, Advantage.

You would tell customers about a specific feature, the benefit they would get from using said feature and the emotion or advantage they would experience as well.

Here is the only problem with this approach; customers don’t have any voice with this approach; it is all about you ‘telling them’.

Who is missing from this equation? The most important person in the entire equation… The Customer!

Instead of focusing on selling your product, spend your efforts on understanding your customer.

2. Focus on the ‘From’ – If your strategy revolves around your commission, odds are you will spend time promoting what the customer is going to get from your product or service.

In other words, you will talk about the future.

Try changing your focus to their past.

What are customers coming from?

What issues are going on in their life that is causing them to want or need your product?

Think about it.

In each of the examples below, you will see that knowing what the customer is coming from helped to serve their ultimate mission, to improve their lives.

• Buying a new car because the old car broke down twice in the last two months
• Need a new mattress because the customer has back problems and can’t take it anymore.
• Has to have a bigger home because the mother-in-law moved in and she is driving everyone crazy in the current small space.

3. Be 100% honest – This should go without saying but occasionally sales people can get off track here when faced with losing a sale.

When that thought of the commission slipping out of your hands pops up, you have to stay focused on the customers’ mission.

Doing so makes sure that you are fully serving your customer.

When that is the case, being 100% honest isn’t tough at all.

Realize that there are other customers out there and you don’t need to manipulate your way into a sale.

Customers often dread interactions with sales people who have commission breath. I know I do.

Instead of seeing customers with a tattoo of you commission on their forehead, see a tattoo on you that reads: “My purpose is to serve my customers’ mission.”

Serve your customers’ mission and you will change their world.