📄 Sell a remedy, not a pain-killer

When a buyer comes to you with a problem they want you to solve, you need to be careful not to confuse the symptoms with the causes.

Whatever problem you’re asked to solve, there’s always a reason why that problem exists.

And people often ask for help with the symptom - the hard, annoying, costly problem they're dealing with.

But that problem exists because of some underlying cause.

And if you want your buyer to tune out and not buy, the best thing you can do is talk to them about the symptom and how you can make it go away.

But you want them to engage and buy, and that means you have to dive deeper, and find out what the actual underlying cause of the symptom is.

Once a buyer realises that you don't just understand the problem and its implications, but that you also understand what causes the problem...

That's when they develop the trust and certainty that they can rely on you to actually make all of it go away.

If you don't dive that deep, all you’re doing is offering them a painkiller, and not an actual remedy to what causes the pain.

So take your time with them. Ask questions, help them identify and appreciate that their surface-level problem has a deeper cause, and help them see and understand where the problem originates. 

Guide your conversation into what that actual deeper cause is, and offer them a solution to the cause, instead of the symptom.

The more you do this, the easier it becomes to land the clients and get to actually solving problems for them.