Stop Selling

That is: if you want to grow your business.

People who work with me regularly are familiar with my approach to sales, which is to refocus it on “buying”.

A commercial transaction requires actions performed by another person. That is the key to a new sale: it is actually the other person performing the act of buying.

Focus on the wrong thing

The act of growth doesn’t come from selling

It comes from people buying.

Sales is about you, it’s about money, it’s about targets and numbers.

In other words: there is nothing in there about your clients, the ones performing the action of buying.

None of these things is of interest, or indeed of benefit, to the person buying.

Focus on the right thing

Start thinking about your clients’ goals instead, and you will be operating in your customer’s context, rather than your own.

Consider the journey your customer goes through:

  • How do they find you in the first place?
  • How are they experiencing their problem?
  • How do they evaluate and choose a provider (hopefully you)?
  • How do they want to buy – are many people involved in the decision? How long does it take? What communication do they want

The more you understand your customer’s operating context, the easier you make it for your customer to buy from you.