Stop selling drills and start selling solutions

Many of us have heard the old saying, "nobody buys a drill because they want a drill, they buy one because they want a hole."  Not quite accurate.  Here is a process of thinking that may help you with your customer conversations. 

Nobody buys a drill because they want a drill, they want a hole.  Not quite.  They want a hole to put a screw in the wall.  Almost.  They want a screw to hang a picture.  Close but not there yet.  They what to hang a picture of Grandma.  Closer but not all the way there.  They want a memory of Grandma that will be prominent in there lives.   A picture on a wall hung with a screw, in a hole made by a drill is just one of the many possible methods of satisfying their desire.  When you know the true goal of your customer many other potential and higher value solutions can be developed.  Think of 3Ms famous adhesive hooks introduced many years ago.  They do not require a drill or all the other tools to patch and repair a hole should the customer wish to move a memory of Grandma to a more prominent location.

When we are developing a business or introducing a new product to market it is easy to get tunnel vision by being a "drill maker" without actually finding out what the customer really wants to accomplish.  Without staying in close conversation with our target market it is easy to fall into this trap without even realizing it. 

I challenge you to become a solution maker not a drill maker.

Dan