Who knows what?

There is a dance you do in a technical sales process. When everyone knows the steps and does what they need too, no one gets stepped on. So who does what?

The number one thing you know, and you know it better than your customers, is your product or service. This is the first of your parts. Know your product and be clear about what it can do. There is one thing you will never know about than your customer. Their business. That is their part.

The customer needs to know their business and their business needs. You can help them, but they have to know it. It you find yourself selling the need, maybe they don’t have it. Once this is established we are ready to move to the dance floor.

So you know your product, the customer knows their needs and business, now we need to match to two of them. This is the dance. You have a part and they have a part. Your part is to sell the solution to their needs as stated, don’t look for too much extra here. (AND we can do this!) Their part is to see how your solution matches their need and workflow. Never under estimate how important this is to your customer, and never think you can do it for them. You can sell them a solution, but you can’t sell it and buy it at the same time.