If you don’t know your customer’s buying criteria, or if you find yourself guessing, consider it a signal that you haven’t placed enough emphasis on uncovering customer needs. You will have added significant value to your customer’s buying process if they come away with a better understanding of their buying criteria and with a greater awareness of important issues they had not previously considered.
If you want to achieve greater sales success, you have to participate in the creation of a unique sales solution that meets your customer’s needs. When the solution you design for your prospect includes certain buying criteria that you are uniquely qualified to address, you have set the ground rules in your favor. But, in order to achieve this result, you must, again, resist the temptation to pitch your solution too soon. Instead, design a customer-focused solution that locks out your competition.
