Sales Works Best When the Seller Knows the Business Better Than the Buyer (Part 1)

One of the most misunderstood ideas in sales is where expertise is supposed to live.

Some assume the prospect is the expert and the salesperson’s job is simply to explain a product clearly and answer questions. But that’s backwards. 

In effective sales, especially in complex or early-stage markets, the salesperson should know as much as, or even more than, the buyer about the buyer’s business.

The best salespeople have been selling into the same industry for years, and they have seen dozens  variations of the same underlying problems. They hear how people describe them and  which attempted fixes work, which don’t. 

By contrast,  when you’re inside a business, it’s sometimes hard to tell which challenges are unique to your company vs those that are widespread.  When a salesperson shows up intent on demonstrating their product, the conversation will remain transactional. The seller shows, the buyer asks questions. The seller answers. 

But when a salesperson demonstrates a deep understanding of the buyer’s business—and asks deep probing questions the buyer starts listening differently. That’s because they’re no longer being sold to, but because they’re learning something.

And it’s at that moment, the conversation moves from selling to advising. And, once the sales executive transforms from a “seller” to a “ trusted advisor,”  the sales process is entirely different.