How to Solve Customer Problems Through Sales

I've watched over 2,500 discovery calls in the last few years. There's one thing I'm convinced of: Top salespeople get to the "heart of the problem" FASTER than their peers. SPEED to uncovering the 'real' problem matters. Here's why: Avg salespeople don't uncover even the tip of the ice berg until late in the call. So they never get a chance to go beyond the surface. They run out of time. Great salespeople get to the heart of the matter fast. That gives them TIME: Time to peel back the onion. Time to explore negative impact. Time to diagnose the root cause. Here are four questions (in order) that get to 'the heart of the deal' fast: 1. Tell me about your biggest challenges when it comes to X? Easy enough. Just enough to kickstart the conversation in the right direction. But not enough by itself. Customers will (almost) always give surface level answers to the first question. 2. What's going on in the business that's driving [what they shared] to be a priorty. Ask this, and your customers will CHUCKLE half the time. Why? Because you are striking a CHORD when you ask that. You're getting to the 'need behind the need.' That's where big money lives. Getting closer. 3. What metric is suffering most as a result of that? Avg sellers struggle to quantify pain. You walk into a different world when you go from expressed pain to quantified pain. Your customer's urgency ramps up. And spending money to solve the problem begins to look REAL good. 4. What's driving you to solve all this now rather than later? Ask this too early? And the answers will be weak. BUT... If you ask this AFTER those first three questions... Your customer now has the FULL CONTEXT of the problem top-of-mind. And now... their answers to THIS question will be far, FAR richer. Give those 4 questions (in order) a try. P.S. Here's 39 more questions that sell: https://lnkd.in/g-VRcCsq

Some demo calls never lead to the next step. You walk out thinking it went well. The prospect asked a bunch of questions. You answered them all. But then…nothing. No follow-up. No urgency. No deal momentum. This happens more often than most sales teams care to admit. And in my experience, the root cause is almost always the same: poor objection handling. Now, I don’t mean price objections or late-stage pushback. I’m talking about the way we handle the everyday questions prospects ask during a demo. The subtle ones. The ones that sound simple, like: “Do you have modeling capabilities?” Most reps hear that and immediately jump into features. They pull up the dashboard, walk through how it works, and try to impress with detail. But they’re answering the wrong question. Because what the prospect is asking might be: “My CFO is frustrated with the forecasting data we provide.” Or, “I need to justify this purchase internally, and I’m not confident in the reporting.” When you answer too quickly, without probing, you stay on the surface. And surface-level answers don’t close deals. Here’s what I would recommend instead: Step one: Answer the question. Yes, provide value. Respect the ask. Nobody likes being met with a question when they’re expecting an answer. Acknowledge their point and give a concise, confident response. Step two: Get to the real reason. Right after answering, ask something like, “Would you mind sharing what’s prompting that question? Is there a specific situation you’re trying to solve?” This shift in approach changes everything. When you give them the space to reflect, most prospects will open up. They’ll explain the internal pressure, the stakeholder needs, and the actual pain behind the question. That’s where the real selling begins. That’s where you stop being a feature provider and become a problem solver. And that’s why I believe objection handling isn’t something that's simple question and answer. It’s a skill that determines whether you truly understand and can accommodate your customers real-life pains... or are you just going through the motions.

Want to get REALLY rich in tech sales? You can learn a lot from my electrician Brian: First, some important background... I am not a handy person. I never learned or had the desire to develop those skills. I pay good money to free up my time to do the things I want to do. So, last week, when we returned from vacation and our garbage disposal wasn’t working, my wife, Lisi, reached out to Brian, our electrician. Brian is good at fixing problems. Which means he's expensive. So, I was willing to pay the $300 to have him come out… Even if I still had to hire a plumber in order to get this resolved. After Lisi explained to Brian the issue, he gave her some simple troubleshooting tips. With a push of a button and a turn of an Allen wrench, we got it working…just as instructed. Brian could have easily pocketed a few hundred bucks by paying us a house visit. Easy money. But he didn’t. What’s the sales lesson here? It might sound straightforward, but putting yourself in the position to help your customers solve problems, even if you don’t DIRECTLY BENEFIT from doing so, is the long-term mindset that will get you paid (A LOT) over the course of your career. This mindset forces you to become an expert with a bias towards problem-solving. It builds immense trust and loyalty with customers, as Brian the electrician has demonstrated with us. You’ll also avoid a common trap I see with a lot of young sellers, which is to default to “yes we can do that.” This is a seller-first approach. Your quest is short-term and one-sided: - Win at all costs - Get to the top of the leaderboard - Earn the commission check next month But you’re better served thinking more long-term: - Help, don’t sell - Delay gratification - Be okay stepping away This is a human-first approach. If I were to rewind the clock, this would be the #1 piece of advice I’d tell my 25-year-old self. 🐝