Tom Lee, Chief Investment Officer of NYSTRS, one of the 10th largest pension funds in the U.S., recently said, “It would knock my socks off if a fund manager came to me and said, “Tom, let me start my pitch by saying this is what I know about you, and this is how I can help you do your job.”
Tom manages a fund with $148 billion in assets. He gets pitched often by smart and sophisticated investment managers. In a recent interview, he summarized his experience this way, “I would remember a pitch from folks who actually understood my needs. I never hear that. It’s always, “Tom, let me tell you about my firm and what we do.”
Tom Lee is not alone.
85% of executive buyers say salespeople don't understand their company’s needs or how they can help. Instead, salespeople talk all about their solutions and their team without connecting what they do with what the buyer wants to achieve.
Understanding buyers’ needs is arguably the most important factor driving purchase decisions in the B2B market today. Yet, it’s surprising how few salespeople talk about needs.
Very simply, a need is what the buyer wants to have happen, and they are willing to pay for it. Or, said differently, a need is a desired outcome that has business value to the buyer.
Here’s an example in Tom Lee’s words, “If your PE program is investing in companies that will generate distributions at a faster rate than other equity programs, that would be helpful to me, because you understand NYSTRS needs cash flow.”
Tom Lee needs cash flow. He is not looking for just another good investment manager or just another fund with great returns. He is looking for an investment that will generate strong cash flow.
Understanding needs is one thing, talking about them is another. Tom, like most executive buyers, wants you to do both!
Buyers do not really care about what you do. They only care about how what you do meets their need. This is often where salespeople miss the mark. They don’t share their understanding of the buyer’s need with the buyer and end up missing the opportunity to connect their solution with what the buyer wants to accomplish. This connection of solution with need is at the very core of selling.
Before any meeting, start with what you know about the buyer and do research to learn even more. Learn as much as you can about the people with whom you will be meeting, their company, what’s happening in their market, and the challenges they are facing that you can solve. Every buyer has pressure points. They all have goals they are trying to achieve. Never before has more information been publicly available to you and accessible within seconds.
What does this information tell you about what they need? About what they want to have happen? About what’s most important to them?
Once you identify the buyer’s need, build your presentation around how your solutions can help them achieve that desired outcome. This is a great foundation going into the meeting. During the meeting you will engage them to further your understanding of their need.
As part of the opening of your meeting, share your understanding of the buyer’s need. This language is critical. You are not telling them what their need is. You are sharing your understanding of their need. This tells the buyer you’ve done your research and are open to expanding and refining your understanding of their situation. If you don’t capture their need perfectly, they will correct you, and they will do so happily. They will not see your imperfect articulation of their need as a failure, quite the opposite. They will see your articulation as a genuine interest in wanting to understand them.
The best way to refine your understanding of the buyer’s need is to ask empathetic and open-ended questions. You want to get them talking. This is a critical moment in the presentation because you cannot help them unless you understand what they want to have happen.
Example of an empathetic question:
“Based on research we did in advance of this meeting, we learned X. Our understanding is that this may have a Y impact on your business. How are you thinking about this as it relates to your longer-term strategy to achieve Z?”
Your ability to stay fully present and listen to their response is as important as the question you ask. Since so few salespeople care about the buyers’ need, you are a breath of fresh air. Be prepared for them to share.
Take notes! Don’t rely on your memory. You’ll need your notes to refer to during and after the meeting. And when you take notes, it tells the buyer you are listening and care about what they are saying. They love to be heard. We all do.
You may decide to go deeper by asking follow-up questions or wider by asking a new question based on other insights. The more you learn, the better you can align your solutions to what matters most to them.
You are now well-positioned to present your solutions better and differently than everyone else.
Here’s why. You have a deeper appreciation for the buyer’s need. You have solutions that meet that need. And now, you can clearly align your solutions with their need.
Here’s how. For every key message you deliver about your solution, tell the buyer how it helps them achieve their goal. We call this the ‘So what’ statement. For every ‘what’ you share, whether a product feature or proof point, answer the question ‘So what?’ How does this help the buyer meet their need?
When you connect these dots for your buyer, you make it easy for them to understand your value, and they will remember you. You might even knock their socks off!
You will win far more often when you genuinely care more about making sure the buyer gets what they need than about making the sale.