One of the worst sins you can commit with a customer IMHO is to just babble on about your own qualities and all the cool things your product can do, without even considering getting a feel for what the customers problem first.
I know. Because I have committed this sin a lot of times. And lived to regret it.
In start of going in and just pitching what you have, you should start by asking what problem(s) the customer is experiencing.
When they then start talking about their pain(s) – and you ask good follow-up questions – you start getting a feel for what they need. And if you’re any good you’re able to put yourself and your product into that context as THE solution to the customers problem(s).
Relief of pain is important for customers. A lot of them will probably even be measured on their ability to solve a problem, deliver a specific result og succeed at some level, where your help and product could be the missing tool they need.
And if the pain is big enough, and you position yourself and your solution exactly where the pain is, the chances of you making a sale is much, much bigger.
When you think about it it’s not really rocket science. It’s ‘just’ a matter of being able to start out listening more than you have the propensity to talk.
Just ask: “What do you need?”. And then take it from there.
(Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash)