Demand-Side Sales 101

1. Flip the Lens: Shift from Supply-Side to Demand-Side Sales

"People rarely buy what the company thinks it's selling."

Supply-side thinking focuses on the product's features and benefits, while demand-side thinking centers on understanding the buyer and their progress. This shift in perspective is crucial for effective sales.

• Supply-side approach:

  • Focuses on the product
  • Uses demographic data
  • Pushes features and benefits

• Demand-side approach:

  • Focuses on the customer's struggle
  • Uses causation, not correlation
  • Creates pull for the product

By adopting a demand-side perspective, salespeople can better understand what truly motivates customers to buy and help them make progress in their lives.

2. Understand the Customer's Struggle and Progress

"The struggling moment is the seed for all innovation!"

Customer's struggle is the key to understanding demand. People don't buy products; they hire them to make progress in their lives.

• Elements of customer struggle:
  • Current situation (where they are)
  • Desired outcome (where they want to be)
  • Obstacles preventing progress

To truly help customers, salespeople must:

1. Identify the struggling moments
2. Understand the progress customers want to make
3. Develop solutions that bridge the gap between struggle and progress

By focusing on the customer's struggle and desired progress, salespeople can create more value and build stronger relationships.

3. Uncover the Four Forces of Progress

"Buying is not random!"

The Four Forces of Progress determine whether people can move from their current situation to their desired outcome.

1. Push of the situation: What's driving them away from the current solution?
2. Magnetism of the new solution: What's attracting them to the new solution?
3. Anxiety of the new solution: What's holding them back from changing?
4. Habit of the present: What's keeping them in their current situation?

Understanding these forces helps salespeople:

• Identify barriers to purchase
• Address customer anxieties
• Highlight the benefits of change
• Overcome the pull of habit

By leveraging these forces, salespeople can create a more compelling case for their product or service.

4. Map the Customer's Timeline for Buying

"Nothing is random!"

The Customer's Timeline consists of six stages that buyers go through before making a purchase:

1. First Thought: Creating space in the brain for solutions
2. Passive Looking: Learning and framing the problem
3. Active Looking: Exploring possibilities and trade-offs
4. Deciding: Making trade-offs and establishing value
5. Onboarding: First use and meeting expectations
6. Ongoing Use: Building habits and identifying new struggles

Understanding this timeline allows salespeople to:

• Meet customers at the right stage
• Provide relevant information and support
• Guide customers through the buying process
• Set appropriate expectations for onboarding and ongoing use

By aligning sales efforts with the customer's timeline, salespeople can create a more seamless and effective buying experience.

5. Align Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support

"Sales, marketing, and customer support must learn to play together!"

Organizational alignment is crucial for effective demand-side sales. Each department plays a role in the customer's journey:

• Marketing: First Thought, Passive Looking, Active Looking
• Sales: Spans the entire process
• Customer Support: Deciding, Onboarding, Ongoing Use

Benefits of alignment:

• Consistent messaging across touchpoints
• Smoother customer experience
• Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty
• More effective problem-solving

By breaking down silos and fostering collaboration, companies can create a more cohesive and customer-centric approach to sales.

6. Master the Art of Interviewing for Causation

"The irrational becomes rational with context."

Interviewing for causation is crucial to understanding why customers buy. Key principles and tips include:

• Principles:

  1. Humility: Don't assume you know why people buy
  2. Causality: Everything is caused; nothing is random
  3. Tradeoffs: Everyone makes tradeoffs to make progress
  4. Disconnected: Most people don't know why they do what they do
  5. Lies: People often lie to themselves and others

• Tips:

  1. Set a casual, conversational tone
  2. Focus on details to jog memory
  3. Use contrast to create meaning
  4. Unpack vague words
  5. Listen for energy in responses

By mastering these interviewing techniques, salespeople can uncover the true causes behind customer decisions and tailor their approach accordingly.

7. Create Pull Instead of Push for Your Product

"Nobody wants to be sold to, but everybody wants to buy."

Creating pull for your product involves understanding the customer's struggle and framing your solution as a way to help them make progress.

Strategies for creating pull:

• Highlight the customer's struggling moment
• Frame your product as a solution to their problem
• Address anxieties and reduce barriers to purchase
• Provide contrast to help customers make decisions
• Set clear expectations for onboarding and ongoing use

By focusing on creating pull rather than pushing products, salespeople can build trust and create more value for customers.

8. Reframe Selling as Serving and Helping

"Great salespeople don't sell; they help."

Reframing sales as service shifts the focus from pushing products to helping customers make progress in their lives.

Key aspects of this approach:

• See the world through the customer's eyes
• Act as an advisor, coach, or helper
• Assist customers in shaping and framing their progress
• Guide customers through the buying process
• Focus on reducing anxieties and solving problems

By adopting this mindset, salespeople can build stronger relationships, create more value, and ultimately achieve better results for both the customer and the company.

Last updated: September 8, 2024