Listen and Learn How Buyers Choose w/ Jeffrey Lipsius [Episode 639]

Jeffrey Lipsius, Speaker, International Sales Trainer, President at Selling To The Point®, and author of Selling to The Point: Because The Information Age Demands a New Way to Sell, joins me for the second time, on this episode.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jeffrey says the biggest single challenge salespeople face today is how distracted customers are because of various demands on their attention. Distractions may divert customers from knowing what their real needs are.
• A customer with a clear goal can make a purchase decision quicker than a customer without clarity about their needs, even if the sales rep is somewhat distracted. Sales reps need to be customer-oriented.
• Jeffrey’s book explores mindfulness as applied to sales performance and goals. The goal is a customer decision. The rep focuses on guiding the customer to a decision. Jeffrey explains external and internal mindfulness.
• Internal mindfulness involves the salesperson’s clarity and observation to learn what the customer needs. External mindfulness involves clearly communicating with the customer to co-create a solution for those needs.
• Jeffrey suggests Googling “appropriate response.” A salesperson’s clarity leads to becoming better observers, then better learners, and then better performers. To get clarity, focus on the customer and be intrigued.
• Self-doubt is distracting. Normal mindfulness is about relaxing and confidence. That is not the mindfulness of sales. Focus on the customer and their decision process. Jeffrey suggests things to observe about the customer.
• Customers want to feel good about the decisions they make. The salesperson can work with this if they focus on the customer’s buying process.
• Jeffrey talks about calming stress. It all goes back to coaching the customer to make a good decision. The coach’s job is to instill confidence in the customer to make a decision in the customer’s best interest.
• When a salesperson discovers, listens, and learns about the customer, the customer’s decision process is not a ‘black box.’ The more clarity a salesperson has about the buying decision, the easier it is to influence the customer.
• Selling to The Point takes a different approach than most sales books. Listen, observe, and learn how the customer decides. If the decision process is a mystery to the customer, that is an obstacle to making a buying decision.