Hughism: Do Not Sell What It Is, Sell What It Does
I was at Home Depot the other day, wandering around in the power tool section, looking at tools I would never use, cannot operate, have no place to store and yet feel an overwhelming urge to buy… anyway, I digress.
As I stood there, enraptured by all the pretty drills, I was reminded of a sales story that I was told early in my career that has always stuck with me. I repeat it here not because I think you have not heard it, but because you (and me and everyone who sells for a living) forget it often and need to be reminded.
Every day, all across the country, people walk into a hardware store and buy a 1/2 inch drill bit. They buy diamond tipped bits, they buy titanium bits, bits for wood, bits for steel. The buy bits for hammer drills, for high speed drills and low speed drills, bits for pneumatic drills and bits for electric drills and (my favorite) bits for cordless drills. And yet (this is the astonishing thing), not one of them wanted a 1/2 inch drill bit.
Nope. Not one of them.
Every single one of them wanted a 1/2 inch hole.
Are you sure that what you are selling is what your customer is trying to buy?
Hi Hugh
This is just great! You’re last line made me laugh out loud. So true, and we forget this so easily, don’t we?
I don’t sell wooden floors, I sell easy to clean floor covering
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
@ Karin-
I think in a larger sense, you are actually selling time. By purchasing your floor coverings, I do not have to hire the steam cleaning guys, do not have to worry about the grape juice the kids dropped on the floor, do not have to rent the machine from the grocery store.
Busy people will spend any amount of money to buy more time.
Hi Hugh
Points taken
We even sell extra value to their homes (natural wooden floors add more value to a home than carpet, and when you have buy-to-let home you can ask more rent for the place). so in fact, we’re in the money business too
Karin H.
I have to say that this is a valuable point. I have heard this from some great salesman that have said similar things like Brian Tracy and Tim Sales. I think that so many companies want to sell something, but they don’t know their market. I always have found that defining your market first and then deciding what they want will make it ten times easier. Don’t you?
Good advice, Hugh. Not necessarily new advice, but you can never have enough reminders to sell the what it does for the client. Thanks for joggin my sales memory.
I think you make some good points. Salesman will always be better off if they help people vs. sell them things they don’t want.
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Very funny point ‘Every single one of them wanted a 1/2 inch hole.’ Just borrow next time if you can restrain from buying the bits.
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LOL @ ‘every single one of them wanted a 1/2 inch hole’!
Actually, I’ve never heard this story before. I’ve read so many sales books, it’s hard to imagine missing this one.
Now the question is how to use this on my website….
This reminds me of what I learnt as a rep. The customer is not interested in the features of your product but rather the benefits. The customer is interested to know how your product or service can benefit him like the above the customer buy’s the drill bit not for its steel looks but because it will make a 1/2″ hole for him. So when selling talk of the benefits your product will bring your customer.