You Can’t Sell Anybody Anything – Rule #27

Sandler Rule #27 states that “You can’t sell anybody anything – they must discover they want it”.  While this initially sounds counter intuitive, it is actually key to closing a sale in many different selling examples.

An example of this comes from my dad.  He recently went to a John Deere dealer to purchase a new riding lawnmower.  He was planning on purchasing John Deere’s largest and beefiest lawnmower and had done lots of previous research.  Upon talking with the salesman, the salesman really got to know my dad.  He asked lots of questions such as how much grass to do mow, would there be anything else you would want to use a ‘garden’ tractor for, is it just you using it or are there other family members who would use it as well, how much were you thinking of spending, how much would you be willing to spend, which features are essential to you, and many other similar questions.  After gathering all of that information, the salesman then asked my dad if he had considered the line of tractors one size up from the ‘garden’ tractors.  My dad had, but was willing to hear what the salesman had to say.  The salesman’s response was that the bigger tractor will do everything that the ‘garden’ tractor would, have all of the same features, and more.

Using the information the salesman gathered by asking my dad very specific questions about his need, pain, and budget, he was able to lead my dad down the path to discovering that the larger tractor would satisfy his needs and more.  My dad did purchase the larger tractor, but not as a result of coaxing from the salesman.  The salesman was able to artfully help my dad come to his own decision, without making my dad feel like he had lost control of the situation or was buying something he was not really interested in.