As salespeople we must all be able to uncover a customer's needs. To make the sale, however, we need to appreciate the emotions behind the buying decision. Customers make their decisions based on emotion, not logic. They'll use logic later to justify their decision.

I didn't realize the power of those emotional connections until my older daughter recently gave birth to my first grandchild. She had her own birthday a few days later and, as I was looking for a card, I suddenly realized the emotional connection between a mother giving birth and a child's birthday. You see, we had adopted my older daughter as a baby. For me, her birth was just a date on her record from the Korean orphanage. When my younger daughter was born, I was present at her birth so her birthdays have a different meaning for me than my older daughter's.

So it is in sales. Until we can understand why things are important to people it's had to make the emotional connections that are meaningful. Sometimes it becomes obvious in the course of a conversation, most of the time it requires some sensitive digging. Once you understand the emotional connection you can position your solution to meet that need. They'll be happy, so will you.