What The Client Wants, The Client Gets 2

What The Client Wants, The Client Gets 2
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Home » Customised Training » Consultative Selling Training » How To Differentiate Between What The Customer Wants & Needs
Do you know what the difference is between a need and a want?
A lot of people think that they are the same but they are different.
When selling it’s important that you understand the difference between needs and wants because you need to appeal to both during the sales interaction.
And understanding this element of sales is always one of the most important areas that any Sales Training course will cover.
Look at needs as those things that are vital for survival and a want is something that you desire.
Wants are almost always linked to an emotion that the want gives you.
You need food to survive right? But why do you have that expensive cut of steak? The answer is that you want it, you’ll love the taste, maybe how it looks and if you’re on a date then you want to impress your partner. They are all wants.
The need would be to put calories in your body for survival. The want is everything else.
When a want and a need are aligned then you have a lay down sale!
In terms of selling think of needs as MUST-HAVE-DO-OR-DIE criteria. These MUST be fulfilled. Wants are everything else.
When selling to someone listen very closely to the language that they use because it will reveal all and what is most important to them.
“The car needs to have 4 doors because of my kids and also Bluetooth because I travel a lot and want to sync my phone with the stereo. It must be economical too because I travel in excess of 20,000 miles per annum to and from work. Bit of poke would be nice and I’d like heated seats and a wireless charger”
The MUST-HAVE-DO-OR-DIE items were:
These MUST be fulfilled first before anything else so as a salesperson these would be your go to items to cover off before you look at the others items which were nice to have wants.
So those 3 items could be negotiated but the 3 must have items would not be. Now if you had a car to sell with all 6 features then it should be one of those lay down sales that I mentioned earlier as long as the price was right.
If you had the 3 must have items and say 2 of the nice to have items then you could have a sale if you included something else.
Imagine that you need a car to get to work each day and to drop the kids off at school. So you’ve made the decision to buy a car because you NEED it.
But the brand, the make and the model that you choose will be based on your WANTS. If it was a simple as getting from A to B then everyone would be driving low cost cars that did the job.
But purchasing decisions are not made like that!
That’s a really good example of grasping the difference between customer needs and wants and is one that I recommend that you take into yours selling interactions.
Normally the decision has been made to make a purchase to fulfil a need. Your job as a sales person is to cater for their wants and this is where the majority of your focus should be.
That doesn’t mean ramming benefits and features down the customers throat.
Customers hate to be sold to but they love to buy.
So how can you illicit the customers needs and wants?
Well, it all comes down to the quality of your questioning and listening skills.
Consultative selling skills are a must when it comes down to understanding needs and wants. It’s not a one way sales pitch here. Instead you should be asking lots of questions around why they want something, how they want it, the impact it will have on them and what’s important when they make decisions like this.
And what they don’t want is as important as understanding what they do want. Your customer may have made purchasing decisions in the past and have got their fingers burned.
“And I don’t want the payment protection cover because I’ve never made a claim in over 20 years so I’ve been wasting my money”
Now imagine a sales person trying to convince this customer that they do need it? It will probably come over as pushy and that it is in the self-interest of the sales person’s commission rather than what the customer wants.
Some people have fears about what will happen in their business if they don’t achieve their goals. By helping them move away from those situations, you lessen the fears and help them build confidence.
Others have opportunities to achieve goals and they need help to move towards them. This is a chance for you to discuss the gains they would get from your products and services.
“Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice” It’s an old one but a good one.
Your Doctor wouldn’t prescribe medicine or drugs without first asking you lots of questions around your symptoms and situation. The same can be said with selling.
Never sell anything without first understanding the customers needs and wants.
You can then tailor your interaction with them on the areas that are most important to them. Not the areas most important to you.
Want to learn more? Then why not book a face to face Sale Course with MTD.
Alternatively why not try an Online Sales Training solution which range from LIVE webinars through to online courses.
Would your connections like this too? Please share.
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Caitlin Sisley is a Marketing Content Writer at WorkflowMax, and has over six years of experience in digital content production. She has worked on creative copy for a large number of New Zealand businesses - from tiny startups to household names. With a Master of Professional Studies from the University of Auckland, she is passionate about small business and corporate responsibility.

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As much as you try to deliver flawless services and maintain great client relationships, you're bound to run into some difficult client situations – it's part of doing business!
Whether some aspect of your job management cycle doesn't go according to plan or your client is just having a bad day – it's important that you're prepared to manage angry, frustrated, or emotional clients.
In this blog, we outline seven strategies to help you manage and diffuse challenging situations. Keep them in your back pocket so you are equipped to turn around a potentially negative outcome.
Editor's note: This blog post was updated from its original version on 21 May 2020.
This is the Number 1 rule to remember when dealing with a challenging client. Stay calm, and never let your own feelings spiral out of control. Responding to your client emotionally or angrily is only going to escalate the situation.
If you feel tense take a few deep breaths, keeping a slow and steady rhythm. It’s ok to wait a moment and collect yourself rather than responding immediately.
Remember not to take your client's behaviour as a personal offense. They might be under pressure from a tough boss, they could be having personal problems at home, or maybe they're just having a horrible day. Whatever the reason, try not to be offended - you never know their exact situation.
When someone is firing aggressive or emotive language at you, it’s easy to roll your eyes and dismiss them as crazy. But disregarding a client’s feelings will only inflame them more.
It’s crucial that you acknowledge their emotions - whether or not they’re justified - so your client feels like they’ve been truly heard. The following statements can help…
Often just acknowledging their feelings will be enough to calm them down.
If it gets to the point where you client loses control and is yelling insults or failing to manage their emotions...you need to have patience. Wait it out. If you attempt to argue with them in this state no logic is going to break through.
Try to let your client get their feelings off their chest without interrupting. Avoid telling them to calm down - this can feel extremely patronising, and will often have the opposite effect.
If things have really escalated politely suggest taking a ten minute breather. Ask if they would a like a glass of water or coffee, or if they’d prefer to reconvene on another day. Try not to judge them for things said in the heat of the moment.
While it’s important to placate an angry or emotional client, you should also take their comments on board. Do they have a valid reason to be so distressed? Why do they feel let down by your business? Were your initial promises or communications misleading?
In the case of Brad the muffin man, we eventually realised one of our over-zealous sales people had promised him a heap of extras beyond the scope of the project. He felt betrayed by these broken promises.
Active listening means really stopping and digesting the words your client says. If you’re simply imagining your rebuttal while they talk, that’s not active listening.
By really listening to your client’s problems you may discover ways to improve your service, business processes and communication going forward.
Try to find some common ground early in the conversation. If you only focus on the point of disagreement, your client will feel like they’re banging their head against a brick wall.
Here are some statements that may be helpful:
Establishing that you have things in common can help generate feelings of empathy and understanding. You don’t want to be at loggerheads for the whole conversation.
When tensions are running high it’s easy to get off topic, or end up discussing tangential details. Anecdotes or argumentative statements can quickly veer the meeting off course.
To keep things on track make sure you bring a written agenda to the meeting. You should also have all relevant paperwork at hand - your signed contract, previous written communication, and a timeline of events up to the present. Having these facts at hand will help you establish control of the conversation.
Use the paperwork to back up your position, especially the formal contract. If they ignore these written points calmly repeat them until they sink in. Make it clear that you will not budge on factual information.
Always conclude the meeting with a concrete plan for moving forward, and email a summary of this to the client. This means the meeting outcome can’t be disputed. Include timeframes and specifics.
If you didn’t manage to reach a mutually agreeable solution, make sure you set a date for a follow-up meeting. Or if you prefer, tell your client you will send them a proposal within a strictly specified deadline (e.g. 48 hours). It’s crucial to schedule every step forward, so you keep momentum and nothing gets forgotten.
Remember that it’s in your own interest to deal with unhappy clients as fast as possible. The longer the disagreement drags on, the more likely the client will complain publicly or leave negative reviews of your business.
Following these steps will help to resolve most conflicts. But the best approach is to avoid difficult clients in the first place!
Have you ever experienced a bad gut feeling when meeting a new client? Your stomach forms a little knot when their name pops up in your inbox. We all find it hard to say no to potential new business, but often it’s better to act on your intuition. The most difficult clients aren’t worth it because of the profits they’ll cost you in the long run.
Here are some red flags to watch out for when meeting new clients:
Meeting with a client is like going on a date. Both parties should feel positive about progressing the relationship. If you have concerns from the outset, tell them you don’t have the capacity to take them on, or you don’t think your services are suited to their needs.
You’ll avoid a great deal of emotional stress, sleepless nights and heated phone calls in the future.
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Modern counseling models and techniques are as varied and diverse as the counselors and clients who use them. Most counselors have a particular theory, method or school of thought that they embrace, whether it is cognitive behavior therapy, solution-focused therapy, strength-based, holistic health, person-centered, Adlerian or other. Yet all of these approaches and techniques have at least one thing in common — their potential effectiveness is likely to be squelched unless the counselor is successful in building a strong therapeutic alliance with the client.
The crucial nature of the therapeutic alliance is not a new idea. In 1957, Carl Rogers wrote an article in the Journal of Consulting Psychology outlining the factors he considered necessary for achieving constructive personality change through therapy. Four of the six items directly addressed the client-therapist relationship. Rogers asserted that the therapist must:
In the decades since Rogers’ article was published, many other studies have explored the therapeutic alliance. In 2001, a comprehensive research summary published in the journal Psychotherapy found that a strong therapeutic alliance was more closely correlated with positive client outcomes than any specific treatment interventions.
So, what constitutes a therapeutic alliance?
“Most scholars who write about the therapeutic alliance describe it as a relational factor in counseling that includes three dimensions: goal consensus between counselor and client, collaboration on counseling-related tasks and emotional bonding,” explains American Counseling Association member John Sommers-Flanagan. “The best ways to form and strengthen the alliance are specific counselor behaviors that contribute to those three ‘alliance’ dimensions. Focusing on these dimensions helps grow the therapeutic relationship.”
“For example, goal consensus or agreement involves listening closely to the client’s distress and hopes and then being able to articulate that distress and hope back to your client,” says Sommers-Flanagan, an author and associate professor in the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Montana. “This can happen from any theoretical orientation. For a cognitive behavioral therapist, it could include collaboratively generating a problem list. For a more existentially oriented counselor, it could involve asking the client ‘What do you want?’ and then gently exploring the many nuanced dimensions of how your client answers that question.”
“Collaboration on counseling-related tasks can involve nearly any task that is clearly described and that clients understand as related to their problems or goals,” he continues. “This could involve everything from taking a
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What The Client Wants, The Client Gets 2

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