Understanding the From
I often ask people to tell me why they bought their last car. The answers are predictable and similar. See if these responses sound familiar to you:
- I was over 200,000 miles on my old car and I was worried it was going to die on me.
- I needed better gas mileage.
- My last car was totaled in an accident.
- My mechanic said I’d be better off putting a brick on the accelerator and driving it into the ocean than trying to fix it again!
These answers are not at all surprising. We’ve all been there. What is interesting is that they do not actually answer the question that was asked. People rarely say anything about their new car when asked why they bought it (the original question) but almost always talk about their previous car. The tendency to talk about one’s former or current circumstances when asked about a new purchase is not unique to car sales and it provides incredibly powerful information about understanding an effective sales process.
For sales professionals, it all comes down to one question: Are you a To salesperson, or are you a From salesperson? Are you all about what the customer is moving to, or are you first concerned with what a customer is coming from?
The fact is that the From informs the To. That is, a customer is not moving To anything unless they are first moving From something. When we understand the From, the To becomes clear.
Here’s another example:
Salesperson: What are you looking for in a new home?
Buyer: More space!
Salesperson: Do you have a square footage range in mind?
Buyer: Yes…somewhere in the 2,000-2,500 range.
SP: Perfect. I have a 2,250 model…would you like to see it?
This is a completely typical conversation, right? We hear it all the time. But, is there a better version of this conversation to have? Consider this:
Salesperson: Tell me why you’re thinking about moving.
Buyer: Our place is too small.
Salesperson: I see…tell me more about that.
Buyer: Well, we live in a 3 bedroom house and it was great when it was just my wife and I. But now, with two kids and me working from home and the dog and the cat…it feels really small. It’s driving us nuts!
Salesperson: Yeah, I get that! Ok, tell me the specifics about how the spaces aren’t working for you…that will give me a clear idea of what you need.
Buyer: All the bedrooms are grouped together so I can never get away from anyone when I need to work. It’s loud ALL the time! And, my “office” is just a desk in the corner of our bedroom. That definitely isn’t working. Also, we are seriously lacking storage space in just about every room in the house, especially the kids’ rooms.
Note that in each case, the salesperson asked just three questions. But look at the huge difference in the knowledge they gained! If you were the salesperson in this scenario, think about how much easier it would be to sell a home to this buyer if you had the information gained in the second conversation.
Successful selling is all about learning the From in order to get to the To. In fact, I will go so far as to suggest that when you know your customer’s needs well enough, they will easily and clearly show you how to sell them a home. When you know the From, it’s as if your customers have done the work of selling for you because knowing the From IS the work!
Resist the urge to feature dump and ask standard, formulaic questions. Buyers aren’t looking for features—they are looking for what they need to make their lives work well. This is true of ALL sales! So whatever you are selling, start your sales conversations by asking the simple questions that will tell you what your buyers need, and you will then be equipped to make a sale.
Change your mindset. Change your approach. Then, change someone’s world.
