Taxila Business School

DON’T SELL… MAKE THE CUSTOMER TO

BUY!!!
Selling is a queer profession!!! Unlike in other jobs where your output lies
in your own resources & competence, it’s different in Sales… In sales the
output of the sales person lies in his customers’ resources &
competence!!! Yet, the Sales targets are all his … How unfair!!!

Not unfair at all!!! & I have reason to say so… I feel few sales people
realize the simple logic that since their success lies in the efforts of their
customers, it’s they who will make their targets!!! Wondering how???
Simple… by allowing them to buy from you!!!

The folly that most sales people make is that they go out to sell. They
hard sell to their customers by glorifying their product, over committing &
trying to imposing the product onto the customer… This makes their
customer defensive & he goes into a “No buy” armor… Seldom though,
but even if a sales person gets a sale, it’s never repeated… Another
common mistake that Sales people make is that they are unable to
distinguish between a friend & a foe… They waste a lot of time on people
who aren’t their “Target customers”.

I have been in the sales profession for the over 25 years now & I rarely
missed my targets. I realized I can do little to make my targets! So, I made
my customers work overtime to make them. Now the point is why would a
customer help me make my targets? Is he in love with me? No absolutely
not! No one is love with anyone so as to harm his own self. He will help
me because he loves himself & wants to make his own self comfortable for
which he needs my product… & its me who can give him the maximum
value… Once a Sales person understands this simple dictum, I promise, he
will never fail in this profession… Rather he will dictate his terms to the
world around him.

Need & Value creation is the guru-mantra of being successful in Marketing

& Sales… This is all that Successful Marketers have done & this is exactly
what you should do…

1. Discover or uncover NEED of your customer

2. Create & Deliver VALUE to him

What is NEED??? Is that product which you want to possess? When you say
“I need a motorcycle” is it that mode of transport comprising of 2 wheels,
one handle, seat & an engine that you need? Most of you will say “yes!!!”.
Few others will add Mileage, Looks, Power, Speed etc. to it. & that’s
where you are wrong! Well friends, if it was a transport that you want
then God all mighty has provided you with two legs as a natural transport
system. If its mileage that you are looking for then a cycle would be the
best… & so on… So these are not your Needs!!! These are
‘satisfiers’ to your needs!!!

Need is not a product… It’s a feeling! A feeling of something missing in

life. A feeling of deprivation. An urge to fill some vacuum that exists
within your inner self. A product is only a medium that has some definite
inert benefits, which fills in this vacuum & gives you that feeling of
completeness.

When you say you want a motorcycle as a transport, what you actually
mean is that you have a need to save time or save your energy! When you
want Mileage its economy that you are buying, when looks its Machoness
or faminity, when power its Authority or a sense of Ruling, when speed its
Excitement & so on…

Friends, you don’t buy Products… You buy “Benefits” that satisfy you
Needs… Products are mere Satisfiers of those needs… Products are only a
means not an end… So WHY SELL FEATURES OF YOUR PRODUCTS? SELL
THE BENEFITS THAT WILL SATISFY A CUSTOMER NEED! & the customers
will come flogging to you gate to buy your products… This is why Peter
Drucker said “The aim of marketing is to know & understand the customer
so well that the product or service fits him & sells itself.”

However it’s easier said than done!!! Because in today’s complex, over
communicated market place, customers have many needs from one
product & one product can satisfy many needs. When you buy a motor
cycle you may want a transport, want to impress friends & do it
economically too… How ever different people may have different
components & combinations of needs from the same product. What is
more daunting for Marketers is the fact that few Needs maybe very strong
yet lie below the conscious state of the customer!!! This is why many
products that give no Basic benefits for which they are made get sold! Can
Axe deodorant make you macho & sexy??? Can Hunk Motorcycle make you
hunky? Can a low rise jean of Lee make you confident, modern &
feminism? If you think it can… think again! But we still buy them for this
reason… Subconsciously & secretly though! What these savvy marketers
have done is they have made us “Pavlov’s Dogs” where we pull out our
wallets & spend, spend, and spend till we drop dead on the tune of the
Marketers’ stimuli… We need to do the same. UNDERSTAND THE LATENT
NEED OF THE CUSTOMER & DESIGN VALUE PREPOSITION AROUND IT.

What is VALUE??? Is it the cost of a product? Is it the features of a

product? Or is it the feeling that one will get upon owing a product? Well,
it’s a combination of all the three. Value is a ratio between the physical &
mental benefits w.r.t. the cost he pays in terms of money, emotions, time
& efforts. It’s a sense of winning that a customer feels he will get upon
purchasing any product…

NO PRODUCT IS BOUGHT UNLESS IT HAS A VALUE PREPOSITION. So, build

a set of values around the your product & convey it to your customers
creatively so that a perception of Value is created in his mind.

After the customer has put his faith in your product by buying it, make
sure that you deliver what you have promised. A satisfied customer will
rope in 5 more customers for you while an unsatisfied will take away 11.
So promise only what you can deliver. ENSURE YOU SATISFY
CUSTOMER NEEDS!

Selling is a very gratifying profession. Good sales people not only sell
their products they make friends too! They get money, fame & respect
faster than in any other profession!

So learn the nuances of this trade… Do it cleverly, creatively &

constructively… Use the art & science of creating & retaining customers…
DON’T SELL… MAKE THE CUSTOMER TO BUY!!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – PROF. JITENDRA NIGAM

An MBA from the reputed, R. A Poddar Institute of Management Jaipur.

Brings with him a unique combination of rich Corporate & entrepreneurial
experience of over 25 yrs. Has worked for a British MNC ‘AVERY’ for over
18 yrs & took VRS as Vice President. Now a successful entrepreneur
involved in textile business, hospitality industry & Management
consultancy. An excellent Teacher & Corporate Trainer with in-depth
knowledge & experience, having conducted infinite Seminars, Training
courses, Workshops, Sales Schools, Career lectures etc. . On advisory
board of various Hotels & Industries – (Shahpura hotel, Pachar group of
hotels, Modern Petrofils & more)
To read more of Prof. Nigam’s Articles & Papers just Google “Prof. Jitendra
Nigam”.

Professor : Taxila Business School, Jaipur.

Web: www.taxila.in, email: info@taxila.in, nigam@taxila.in.

0141 6500000.