We have an enormous disconnect with our customers. We focus on selling a solution. Our customers struggle with understanding the problem.
We’ve tended to take an approach of “Find a problem, Solve it!” We narrow our ICPs to customers that are likely to have the problems we solve. We look for signals those customers might have the problem we solve. Perhaps they are hitting on the website, perhaps they downloaded a white paper or case study. We immediately leap in, “We have a solution to your problem, can I schedule a demo?”
Alternatively, we are on a discovery call, asking carefully crafted questions to establish a problem, then moving into “We have a solution, and if you order by month end….”
We are on autopilot, Find A Problem, Present A Solution, Close The Deal, (Go back to go, collecting $200.)
The challenge is, most customers don’t have crisp, well defined problems waiting for solutions—even when they are in the final stages of their buying process. They walk around with symptoms, conflicting signals, competing priorities, differing opinions, and often nothing more than a sense of unease with vague pressure to do something.
We see the data supporting this, the majority of funded buying efforts ending in no decision made. And for those who have made a decision, buyer regret.
What buyers most need is a partner to help them frame the problem, before they seek to solve it.
I’ve written about this before, but buyers struggle recognizing they have a problem. They may see the symptoms, or have increasing senses of unease. Things become more difficult to accomplish, they aren’t getting the expected outcomes, new factors disrupt what they are doing.
As they start recognizing the there may be a problem, they often don’t agree on what the problem is. Each brings their own perspective or point of view and they struggle with reconciling these differing points of view, gaining consensus on what the problem is, and how they might go about addressing and solving it.
Problems are always emotional and political. It’s not a logical process the buying group goes through. Rather it’s a struggle between competing points of view, urgency, risks, consequences. The difficulty is, often, not the facts and data about the issues, but the push and pull around the emotional and political interpretations of the issues.
As sellers, we can bring enormous value in helping the customer manage this process, helping them make sense of what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve. Framing drives collaboration and alignment. It enables the group to align in what they are trying to achieve and how they will approach it. Framing drives ownership in a way that each person has skin in addressing the issue. And if we help the customers frame their problem, they see us as co-invested with them in solving the problem.
Where do we start? First, we need to better understand our customers and their businesses—Yeah, it’s the business/problem acumen stuff all over again (Ask me for copies of he Customer Focused and Problem Focused Brock Questionerts). If we don’t understand them, what they do, their dreams and aspirations, even the language they use, we struggle to connect.
Second, we have to be asking different questions. Not about their needs, or the capabilities they seek in a solution. Rather, focusing on what’s happening that may not be making sense to them. Are they struggling to achieve their goals? Is what used to work not working–how do they feel about it? Do they feel increasing loss of control or direction? Do they have a vague sense of unease or discomfort.
Third, help them better articulate these issues. Help them move from vague phrases to putting them into complete sentences.
Fourth, help them connect the dots they may not see. Help them clarify and put order to what they are experiencing.
Fifth, help them understand what’s at stake. Individually, and organizationally. “If nothing changes, what happens?”
Sixth, help them learn, help them better understand and deal with their discomfort.
Finally, help them navigate the process. They probably have never been on this journey, they don’t know where to go, what to do.
What stands in the way of our solutions, is the inability of the customer to frame their problems.
Afterword: While I haven’t had the opportunity to read a draft, knowing how they think, I suspect my friends, Brent Adamson and Karl Schmidt go deeply into this in their upcoming book: “The Framemaking Sale, Sell More By Boosting Customer Confidence.” It comes out in September, be sure to pre-order it.
Afterword: To build your confidence in helping customers frame their problems, start with the Customer Focused and Problem Focused Brock Questionert’s. Reach out for copies of these and how you can leverage them in working with your customers.
Afterword: This is the AI generated discussion this article. I really loved this conversation, some how just hearing the verbal exchange was so clarifying. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply