If you’re selling a product or service to a business–to a non-owner you don’t talk about them until you find out about their “neads.”
1. N-Now. What do they have or are doing now? (Past experience dictates your present decisions)
2. E- Enjoy. What they enjoy? Can you create something better in their services?
3. A- Alter. What do they want to change, or be different?
4. D- Decision maker. If we are fortune to satisfy your needs, who other than yourself will be involved in these decisions?
5. S- Solution. – Find out what they need and provide a Solution.
If we had to put this in a hierarchy, from primary “neads” on down:
- Avoiding risk
- Avoiding hassle
- Gaining praise
- Gaining power
- Having fun
- Making a profit
In most large businesses, nothing happens unless at least one of these “neads” are attended to, and in just about every business big and profitable enough to buy from you, the order of “neads” starts with the top and works its way down the hierarchy.
That means that a sales pitch, speech or etc. that starts with, “how much money the organization will profit won’t be effective?” Instead, the amount of profit has to be married to one of the other more primary neads of the person sitting at the table with you (as well as the D.M.U. (decision making units) or boss she or he reports to).
When you break it all down B2B selling is just like normal selling, except the customer (who might not be the person you’re meeting with) is spending someone else’s money (and wants to please the boss).
Indispensable Marketing 