People Buy for Their Reasons, Not Yours!

For those salespeople out there, if you don’t remember anything else, remember this: “People buy for their reasons, not yours!” I can’t tell you how much it bothers me when I go shopping for a new car and the first thing the salesperson does is open up the hood. I know virtually nothing about car engines and quite frankly I don’t care. That’s not the reason why I’m interested in buying a new car! If a salesperson would simply take some time to find out my wants, needs and desires, they would be much better off and have a far greater chance of making a sale.

Years ago, I had a doctor that came into one of my stores to buy a piano. After a friendly greeting, he said, “I’m looking for a $10,000 shiny black grand piano, but before you open your mouth, please know that I was just at your competitor’s and the salesperson there said, ‘Any fool can spend $10,000 on a piano.’ This fool isn’t going to spend $10,000 with them. Do you have a $10,000 shiny black grand piano?” I simply responded, “Sir, I’ve got the best $10,000 shiny black grand piano money can buy right here.” He immediately pulled out his checkbook and wrote me a check.

Now I understand what the other salesperson wanted to do…he was going to educate that customer. Heaven knows if I were going to spend that type of money on a piano, I would probably be more interested in the touch, tone and durability of the instrument. However, those would be my reasons, not his. What was important to him was, he wanted a shiny black grand piano and he wanted to spend $10,000. This may seem foolish to you, but it doesn’t matter. People buy for their reasons, NOT YOURS!