u201csell me this penu201dI remember reading this story from another quora user. It was his own personal experience on how his recruiter taught him to sell a pen. unfortunately I can no longer find and link back to him. so if you know which quora answer Iu2019m referring to, please let me know. but it goes something like this: Robert (fictional name) applied for work at a sales company. And during the interview, the recruiter handed Robert a pen and asked him to sell it back to the recruiter.Robert took the pen and started listing down various features of the pen and tried hard to convince the recruiter to buy it. u201cthis pen is in blue and has a rubber grip. it makes it easy to gripu201du201cit is a ball point pen, so your handwriting looks nice.u201du201cI will give a very special price if you buy it nowu201d but in the end, he wasnu2019t able to convince nor persuade the recruiter to buy the pen.The recruiter then took the pen back from Robert, and showed him how he would sell the pen.Recruiter: I have a blue pen in my hand, would you like to buy it?Robert: hmmmu2024 I donu2019t knowRecruiter: why dont you know? what would convince you to buy?Robert: Iu2019m not interested in a blue pen. maybe a black pen?Recruiter: okay, if I were to sell you the same pen but in black, would you then buy?Robert: maybeRecruiter: why did you say u201cmaybeu201d? what else is on your mind?Robert: I would like to be able to compare this pen with other types of pen so that I can choose the best pen to buyRecruiter: okay, if I were to lay out in front of you the common types of pen and compare the benefits & features of this black pen from the other ones u2024 and that you clearly see the benefit of this pen u2024 would you then be interested to buy this pen?Robert: yea, sure. * * * the first step in knowing how to sell a product, is to first understand the reason why customers buy.we should be studying how & why customers buy, rather than how salesmen sell. And once you understand the psychology of why customers buy, then the selling part becomes easy to you and you will finally know how to sell a product successfully.i already wrote about the psychology of why customers buy, and how to get them to buy your product & services here the purpose of your product & service is to deliver a desired result for your customer.your product is a solution to a problem that the customer is trying to solve. they donu2019t want your product. they just want what your product can do for them.your product is merely a tool for the customer to reach their goal u2024 it is a vehicle for them to reach their destination. for example:1. people donu2019t buy computers, they buy u2018what they can do with a computeru2024 u2024 to do their work, to surf the internet, etc.2. people donu2019t buy a power drill, they buy what the power drill can do u2024 to create a hole in the wall3. people donu2019t buy weight loss pills, they buy what the pills can do u2024 to help them lose weight so that they can look and feel sexy to attract the opposite sex. so your job is to figure out what your customer wants, and match those wants with the benefit of your product.you can get the eavesdropping technique here to get inside your customers heads. Selling is simply asking questions, and listening to what the customer wants to buy.you donu2019t sell what you want to sell, but you sell what people want to buy!and instead of trying hard to close and push people to buy, you simply ask questions to get feedback and let the customer do the work for you u2024 let them close themselves. Your job is not to push people into buying, but to listen carefully to their wants & needs and help them get what they want to achieve.
