Weekly Sales Tips: The Mutual Purpose Technique

What happens after the discovery, but before you present the solution?

Today we’re going to look at a specific kind of sales mastery, it’s called “The Mutual Purpose Technique” and it’s one of my favorites. 

I’d like you to think through the steps of the sale, especially the early parts of the sale. You’re just wrapping up your discovery and you’ve gotten to know your customer really, really well. You understand their mission, you know the problem that needs to be solved. Now it’s time to pivot over to the solution.

You want to move swiftly and smoothly from the rapport building to the discovery. How do you get there? We pivot.

How do you pivot from discovery to demonstration in a way that’s smooth and natural? Sometimes those transitions can be awkward, right? A salesperson might typically say, “Well, I think I have something you might be interested in”. “So let me just show you”. I’m not suggesting that that’s necessarily a bad way to handle things, but I’m wondering if there’s a better way.

The Mutual Purpose Technique

In the Mutual Purpose Technique, we are describing the benefits of the solution before we even present the solution. The objective here is to describe how that problem will be solved in advance and then gain agreement on the solution before you begin your demonstration.

When we do this, we arrive at that glorious place called “Mutual Purpose.” We’re joined together in this same direction. The goal is there for both of us. All right, so what does that look like? Well, suppose you’re selling a recreational vehicle.

You’ve done your discovery, and now it’s time to describe the desired end state using the “Mutual Purpose Technique.”I’ll break it down and do this in small steps.

The first thing I need to do is ask myself what are the key pieces of information that I need to share? The important features, pricing, availability, those types of things. Then I need to look for just a couple of statements that will each end with a confirmation question.

It might sound something like this. “So based on what you’ve told me so far, I’d like to show you an RV that’s 28 feet long, easy to handle, but still roomy”. “It has a pop-out, so you have lots of space inside and you can comfortably sleep four people.” “How does that sound so far?”

Now, what am I doing right here? I’m simply presenting a top-level overview of the product, but I also gain agreement that we’re headed in the right direction. Now I can move on to the next step with another important aspect regarding how I’m going to solve their problem.

I might say, “One thing to note about this particular unit is that the reliability ratings are really high”. “And since you’re new to the RV world, I wanna show you something that’s really super dependable.” “Sound good?” Do you get a sense of what we’re doing here? We’re building a case that’s helping our customer to see the solution before we actually show them the product.

Then in step three, I can say, “The price on this unit is going to come in around $60,000 all in, and we can have one delivered within two weeks”. “How is that sounding to you?” I’m going so far as to make sure that we’re in the right price category and timeframe, so if there is an issue, I’m not gonna show them something that won’t work for them.

Did I mention, I do all of this before I begin the demonstration. When we think about it, this is really a form of pre-closing. I’m looking to gain agreement.

Then I show the product. Then I change their world.

Until next time my friends learn more, to earn more.