FEATURE: GUEST ARTICLE

Sales On and Offline:  Determining Buying Motives
By: Robert E. Petet

Determining buying motives is the process of finding our what problem(s) the customer has and offering our product(s) that will solve their problem.  These are the real reasons for a customer to buy; this is the key to the success of the sales process.  There is no reason to go any further in the sales cycle unless the exact buying motives have been established.  Without knowing what the customer's true buying motives are, the salesperson is merely 'guessing' what the customer wants, or what may solve their problems.  Taking the customer's buying motives into account we should eliminate high-pressure sales, because we are able to give the customer what they want, not what we think they want.

People have both logical and emotional buying motives.  Recent consumer surveys show that, in most cases, 20% of the decision to make a purchase is logical and 80% is emotional.  Logic is reason supported by facts. Emotions are feelings that cause us to act and react and can be a large influence in our buying habits.  We discover a particular customer's buying motives through 'investigative questioning.'  There are several areas toward which investigative questioning is directed:

1.  What does the customer say they need and why?
2.  What do they see the new product doing that their old product (or system or method) did not do for them?
3.  What specific function must this system perform?
4.  How soon is it needed?
5.  What budget has been set up for this purchase?

Our pleasant, calm and sincere tone of voice and our kind facial expressions will help put the customer at ease in this investigative process.  The genuine interest that we show on behalf of their needs, as well as the enthusiastic manner in which we seek to discover the problems and solutions will encourage our customer to answer our questions eagerly and honestly.  At this point listening skills are crucial, because the customer will tell you now what their problem is and then all you have to do is listen and provide the solution.

Asking the customer a question in a manner which allows them to choose one of two responses and then asking, 'Why?,' should extract a buying motive.  Remember this buying motive and proceed to gather more, because the more reasons or problems you can establish, the better your solution will be when you give it.  This type of selling does not put pressure on the customer or the sales person.

Article from Robert E. Petet,
President of Sales Creators Inc.:
SCI News is published by Sales Creators, Inc.
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