Find a Need and Fill It.

I was out walking the other day and happened upon a major electrical chain store.  On impulse, I walked in. My clothes dryer had been making funny noises lately and it occurred to me that it might be time to get a new one. This delightfully charming salesman approached me and asked the ubiquitous...”Can I help you?”

I said, “Yes, where are the Fisher and Paykel dryers?”  He took me to them. I’ve had my current Fisher and Paykel dryer for nine years and I love it. I have convinced myself I wouldn’t buy anything else. He took a good 15 minutes showing me the latest model, told me all about it, demonstrated how it worked, all the things a salesman in an electrical store is supposed to do, right? Not exactly.

“Does it come in a bigger size?” I asked.

“No, they only make it in this size.   If you’re keen on this one, there’s going to be a price increase at the end of the month, so it would pay you to get in soon.”  A weak attempt at a “Deadline Close” but someone must have fallen for it once upon a time, because I’ll bet he uses that line often.

I could see the salesman was struggling so I offered him a lifeline. “My dryer is about ready to spit the dummy. It’s making funny noises. “

“What kind of noises?”

“A loud screeching noise. I’m afraid it’s going to pack it in any minute.”

“It’s probably just a button or the underwire from a bra that’s caught in it. Do yourself a favour, go home, open it up and check for things inside that might account for the noise, ” he advised helpfully.  I knew there wasn’t anything stuck in the dryer, but I took his advice. Not the part about opening it up though, the advice I took was the “go home” part.

What could that salesman have done better? What would have made me buy the dryer on the spot? I felt sorry for him and even offered him a clue, but he didn’t recognise it. He needed to find out what my motivation was and the way to do that is to ask questions....lots and lots of questions.  What do you think would have happened if he’d asked me.....

1)    “How old is your current dryer?”  Me: “About nine years.”  Him: “Hmmm, well that’s getting to be pretty old.”

2)    “How often do you use it?”  Me: “Every day. I do at least one load because I wash school uniforms every day.” They only have one set of clothes for school.

3)    “What would happen if it stopped working?” Me, horrified at the prospect: “I’d be in deep trouble. The kids have to wear their uniforms to school...”  

4)    “What would that mean to you?” Me: “It would be disastrous. The kids aren’t allowed to go to school in anything other than their uniforms.”   At this point, I would be thinking about the dire consequences of not having the school uniforms ready and starting to feel a little edgy.

5)    “You asked about the size of the dryer. How do you mean?”  Me: “Well, I hoped that Fisher and Paykel  made a bigger dryer, because the one I have is too small. When I do my bed linens, I have to do two loads.”

6)    “What does that mean to you?” Me: “It really bugs me. I have to wait around the house until the first load is finished. All that waiting, waiting, waiting......  I have far better things to do.”

By this time, I would be focused on what I would do if the clothes could not be dried for school the next day and how annoying it was to waste time waiting on the second load. I would be more than ready to buy the first thing he showed me that solved my problems.  I wouldn’t care if the bigger dryer he should have sold me was not Fisher and Paykel, as long as he could convince me that I would no longer have to sit around waiting for the second load.  I’d have bought any dryer, no matter what the price, as long as it saved me from that dreadful waiting, waiting, waiting.

Find a need and fill it. Find out what your customer needs by asking lots of questions. Start with general questions and gradually hone in on what they’re really looking for. It’s usually not the product itself, it’s what the product can do that makes the difference.  I may have said I was looking for a dryer, but what I really wanted was something that would save me time. If the salesman had asked the right questions, he would have quickly discovered this and would then be in a position to offer me a solution.  Instead of trying to create a sense of urgency regarding the price change at the end of the month, he could have discovered that the thought of losing the use of my dryer for just one night would be all the urgency I needed to commit to a sale on the spot.  

But of course, he didn’t know all that because he didn’t ask.