Want To Sell More? Think Like A Doctor

If you went to the doctor, hopped on the table, and he quickly announced that you’ll need heart surgery, you’d be horrified – and really confused. How did he get to that conclusion? What’s the matter? Obviously this isn’t how it works at your doctor’s office, and here’s a hint – it shouldn’t be the way it works for your sales team either.   People are not going to buy your wares until they’re convinced that you can solve the problem they’re experiencing. People need to feel understood. Prior to any meeting, you’ll go through as much information as you can find on a company to get a complete picture, just like a doctor would check her patient’s chart before entering the exam room. For example, if your patient was an obese, middle-aged man who’s been smoking Marlboros since before he could drive a car and eating fast food twice a day every day for decades, you’d know he’s going to need heart surgery. To you, this is the obvious solution. However, when he gets on that table, you don’t just jump to that – start by taking his blood pressure, getting cholesterol levels and figuring out where it hurts. End up at “point B,” through his explanation – even though you knew that before laying eyes on him. This is no different in a sales meeting: you’ve determined what product they need but work backward toward that by asking appropriate questions that bring out the problems they’re experiencing, leading to that very solution. It’s a human need to feel understood by others, so placate this. Once they’ve gotten through their story, make a recommendation based on what you’ve heard and your professional opinion. Make it clear they got you to “point B” on their own, even if you had a sense of where you’d end up before calling their receptionist.  You can’t suggest treatment without first diagnosing the patient, which benefits both parties in the equation.