In society today, we immediately think that we have an answer to our customer’s problem. And it’s just not sales people that do it.

Doctors write prescriptions for symptoms because the medication has been known to suppress the symptoms in the past. But what if those symptoms actually lead to a different problem? The symptoms definitely won’t be going away and worse, the patient may end up getting more sick.

When it comes to sales people, we have been programmed to listen for certain pain points and then jump on those with a “solution”. Just as above, what if those pain points are actually causing a bigger issue? Or what if those pain points aren’t important to the customer currently but there is something else?

Quit putting your customers in a box. Listen, learn, listen again, and then offer up some ideas.