Seek First to Understand 

The famous retailer Marshal Field coined the phrase "the customer is always right" to instruct his sales staff to make the customer feel special by behaving as if the customer was right, even when he or she wasn't.  If a need is clearly very basic or obvious, then it would make sense to simply provide the customer what the customer wants. However, I think we would agree that for a salesperson it's not always that black and white. Moreover, we can't always be sure that customers really know what they need. In reality, the customer is not always right, and what a customer needs and what a customer wants can often be very different things. Field's philosophy of making the customer feel he or she was always right may have demonstrated a commitment to customer satisfaction and enhanced sales, but in today's marketplace such a philosophy can in the long run often be counterproductive for both the purchaser and seller.

Be a Problem-Solver, not an Order-Taker 

Potential customers often approach salespeople to seek out a specific product or service because they believe they have an unmet need the desired product or service will fill. This is especially true in today's selling environment in which buyers are much more highly informed than ever before because of the vast amount of information that is available online. Often times, potential buyers are right on the money, and the salesperson's task simply becomes one of best positioning his or her product or service in the prospect's mind in a way that demonstrates how well it fills the prospect's needs. 

At other times, what the potential customer wants may not (in your estimation) really be what he or she needs. The key to differentiating between a client's wants and needs then becomes understanding how and why a potential client decided to enter the buying cycle in the first place. The potential customer may have misunderstood his or her actual need and/or may simply be seeking the wrong solution. In other words, "The customer is wrong." In this kind of a situation, the skillful, truly customer-focused salesperson is best served by helping a prospects discover what they really need as opposed to what they profess to want even if that means possibly losing the sale.

The key to accomplishing this is to ask appropriate questions and listening intently and without bias to what the a potential customer says about his or her thinking process. You want to find out how the prospect came about identifying his or her need and why the prospect believes their proposed solution will solve their problem.  

Also, Clients today are also savvy enough to know about your competition, so bringing it up yourself can often help you generate  positive outcomes. Doing so shows you're confident in your offerings, helps develops a deeper level of trust, and gives the client all the information they need to make a decision they won't fall back on. 

Be Sure the Need is Really a Want 

Too often salespeople are actively listening for trigger words indicating problems they can fix, and as soon as a prospect mentions any of them, they jump in and try to close the sale. The reality is that what the prospect mentioned may not be a want or a need at all. Carefully listening to a prospect's language can often provide important clues. Wants are usually stated using phrases such as "I would like..., It would be great if...," and "I wish it could do..." Needs are usually expressed as: "I need to have..., We must resolve...," and "It's absolutely vital that..."

Never assume anything. If you hear the client state what you think is a need, reiterate the statement using one of the keywords above and get feedback. For example, "So if I understand you correctly, you need..." While this may sound simple, it's often overlooked. Reiterate and you'll get the confirmation you're looking for or come to the realization that the time is just not right. 

Distinguishing between wants and needs can be challenging. Sometimes we miss-read our customers, sometimes we hear what we want to hear, and at other times we're just way too eager to close the wrong deal. Additionally, customers may often have true needs that they are not motivated to fill. A supplier may be missing shipping deadlines for example, but the customer is reluctant to switch because the current supplier is a close friend. But if we keep an open mind, ask relevant questions and listen attentively, we can dramatically enhance our chances of getting customers (or potential customers) to identify and appreciate their true needs and motivating them to want to implement the solutions we suggest.  

There Can be Multiple Solutions to a Particular Need

If we go back to the idea of a hungry person seeking food mentioned at the beginning of this article, we would readily realize that the need to alleviate hunger could be filled by many, many different kinds of food and could, therefore, represent many, many different types of wants. Just as the conscientious parent may attempt to persuade a child to snack on an apple rather than a candy bar, a conscientious salesperson will strive to persuade a prospect to want the best solution for his or her particular situation. This requires not only creativity and a high degree of self-confidence on the part of the salesperson but also the realization and acceptance that what might be best for the client may not always appear at first to be the most desirable outcome for the salesperson.

PERSONAL SUCCESS IS USUALLY A TEAM EFFORT