Why do people buy? It's not just about needs!

Why do people buy? The typical answer is that they have a need. Is it that simple? Have you ever bought something you didn’t need? Maybe even today! What about that cup of coffee or perhaps a piece of pie after dinner last night? People tend to buy for two reasons. They buy what they perceive will bring pleasure or what they perceive will reduce or alleviate pain.

Why do people buy? The typical answer is that they have a need. Is it that simple? Have you ever bought something you didn’t need? Maybe even today! What about that cup of coffee or perhaps a piece of pie after dinner last night? People tend to buy for two reasons. They buy what they perceive will bring pleasure or what they perceive will reduce or alleviate pain.

People decide to buy based on their emotions and then use facts and figures to justify their decision. They may choose not to buy based on emotions and use facts and figures to justify that decision. It’s all about perceived risk, uncertainty, reward, and benefits. This is true even in a corporate or organizational environment. People still have individual agendas, wants, and needs. Every stakeholder in the organizations you sell to has their agenda.

Prospects and customers buy benefits, but salespeople often focus on features. This creates a disconnect. A feature is an attribute or aspect of a product or service. A benefit is what the feature does to help the prospect or customer. Successful salespeople approach all conversations from the buyer’s perspective. They ask questions to determine what the buyer sees as a benefit.

Remember, just because you know why your product or service will make your customer’s life better doesn’t mean they do. Customers didn’t go to customer school! Successful salespeople understand that to have full product knowledge, all three of these elements must be present:

• Know what your product or service does.
• Explain in a word picture how it fulfills your customer’s needs.
• Know what is unique about your product that helps your customers.

Want the secret to selling benefits? Try this:

1. Pick a product or service you sell.
2. List all of its features.
3. For each feature, list all the possible benefits the feature provides.
4. Write questions you can ask your prospect or customer to determine if they care about that benefit.
5. Develop follow-up questions to determine how much it matters to the customer and whether they would likely change to acquire the benefit.

Whenever you tell a customer about a feature, mentally ask yourself, so what? Answer that question for your customer, and you are on your way to selling benefits.