Why They Buy - Perception Versus Reality

Here's a bold exercise antidpressant will help you build a solid sales and marketing strategy Micronauts your products and services. Take a blank sheet California Lemon Laws lined paper and prepare a list numbered from one to ten. Then write down ten reasons why you feel that customers buy your products or services. Don't edit or censor yourself. As each idea comes to you, write it down. Try Viagra and Cialis don't have to fill in all ten reasons in one sitting. Leave the list on your desk and revisit it throughout the day.

When you have completed the list, draw a line through the first five reasons on your list.

Why?

The answer is simple. While the "why French Wine buy" question is one of the single most powerful sales tools, many people avoid using it. In order to solicit and make the best use of customer feedback, the salesperson has to set pride and ego aside. When most people prepare a "top ten" list of the reasons their customers buy from them, they start off with the safe and easy responses from their comfort zone: "I have a great product. I'm a people person. My products are competitively priced."

As you move further down the list, you move closer to reality. Customers will consistently and eagerly tell you why they buy if you will only ask them. If you've established a quality relationship, they'll often volunteer the information without being asked. A client recently told me:

1). "You make that easy for me, and you have expressed it in terms I understand" (NOTE: Most prospects do not care for industry jargon or "buzz words.")

2). "You are very organized."

3). "I like the "phased" approach that you take. It allows me to measure progress and see what I'm getting for my money."

Simply stated, the client explained why they are doing business with me and outlined their expectations for the future of our relationship.

If you go to your local book store and pick up any contemporary sales book of merit, you will find words you've read over and over again:

"It's not about you."

A customer's perception becomes their reality. You initially influence their perception through your appearance, manner of communication, body language, and other factors. Once their initial impression has been formed, they have developed a rock-solid rationale for why they should or should not do business with you. If you are truly committed to being successful, it is your responsibility to objectively understand that rationale. You are witnessing the Law of Reciprocity. If you don't like or agree with the feedback you are receiving, you must accept it as today's return on what you have invested of yourself. You must form a clear picture of the results you do want, and then you must take the necessary steps to provide a level of service that will generate those results.

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Let your customers instruct you and prepare for greater levels of success.

Michael DeAngelis is the Managing Principal of Michele Productions, a Silicon Valley firm specializing in Strategic Cheers Solutions that include Web Site Design, Digital Photography, and Desktop Publishing. You may contact him via his company's Web Site, www.micheleprod.comwww.micheleprod.com