After spending two weeks at conferences and trade shows, I noticed something simple, and yet so important to your success.

When someone asks you, “What do you sell?” Or “Tell me about your product…” There’s a more important question beneath the question. What your prospects or buyers are really asking is,

“What do you do/have that matters to ME?”

That’s the question you must answer to earn the time and attention of the busy people you want buying what you offer. What does your product or service (the solution) really do for Them?

• Does your solution provide a solution to this buyer’s problem?
• Does your solution create or capture an opportunity for your buyers to do something more effectively, achieve something they didn’t realize they could, or beat their competition?
• Does your solution satisfy a need or fulfill a want or desire?

We can be so focused on what we produce or deliver that we lose sight of the real value of our solution.

The one question you must answer correctly

What do we do FOR our customers?

Ask this question of yourself. Then take it further and gain perspective by asking your customers what you do FOR them. What is the value they receive, the problems you solve for them, the opportunities you have helped them capture, and the needs and wants you and your solution satisfies?

Use the information to refocus your sales conversations on what really matters…what your solution does for your customers.

Write it down, practice saying it, and tweak it to make it flow easily in your speech and in your written messages.

In selling, the questions we ask our buyers are important for opening the door to identify if and how we can help them. But we need to be ready to answer this one important question in different ways throughout our sales conversations. After we earn the right for the conversation to start and we have investigated their specific problems, opportunities, wants, and needs, we need to then explain how what we have connects directly to their situation.

That’s why your answer to this one question will help you in introductions, networking, prospecting, and throughout the sales conversations and process. How does our solution impact Them. Your answer will not only focus the buyer not only on what your company does, but highlight why they should care or want what you offer.