Everyone in sales wants to learn how to sell their product or service better. And everyone is wrong.

Sure, selling skills are an integral part of the sales process, and occasionally have to be employed. But understanding and mastering the other elements of a sale will get you further, get you there quicker and generate a greater profit. Attitude, presentation skills, belief and love of what you do will go miles farther than mere selling skills.

Over the past decade, I have drifted away from “how to sell,” and concentrated my writing and training efforts on “why people buy.”

Buying motives are 1,000 times more powerful than selling skills except when you are dealing with a purchasing department or a procurement department. Those are price-only hellholes, driven by a reckless philosophy of “save a buck at all costs” without regard to quality, service, productivity, morale, durability, impact on customers, comfort of customers, loyalty of customers, ease of use, ease of service or even profit.

Dealing with procurement and purchasing people is not selling; it’s bidding. Lowest price gets it, and it requires little or no skill (other than your ability to lose all your profit in a deal). If my 6-year old granddaughter Morgan has a lower price than you, she’ll get the order.

The bonus about learning buying motives on top of selling skills is that they are employed and decided at a level or two above purchasing and procurement.

Any C-level executive has the power to call purchasing and tell them the search is over. In the rock-paper-scissors game of business, CEOs and vice presidents cover purchasing agents.

All you need to secure that segment of sales is to master every element of why they buy.

The best example of this in America is the Westin hotel chain. A few years ago, they figured out that a comfortable bed would please customers. What a concept! So instead of buying the cheapest, they bought the best.

Did a purchasing agent make that decision? No. Did the salesman who brought them the idea go through purchasing? No. Someone figured out that customer comfort and customer loyalty were motives to buy and sold the beds based on that.

Result? Westin hotels are making money when many others are not. Every other comparable hotel is scrambling to make their beds comfortable. Customers are buying Westin Heavenly Beds by the thousands.

An added bonus of buying the best was that the bed actually made the news. (Front page of the USA Today Money section).

Think about that. Not only has Westin become a chosen hotel brand for many travelers (including me), but it sells the beds to its customers.

I am certain that there are people in the mattress business who are whining at this very moment that their product is becoming a commodity. Maybe you have had the same whine about your product or service. The reason you think you’re a commodity is that you are selling and competing. Big mistake.

Think about how someone can benefit or profit from your product. Think of a value proposition for your product or service that goes beyond the price. When you come up with that, you have a motive to buy.

The skills you use to do that are creativity and attitude, combined with a refined knowledge of and perspective on your industry or market. Then it requires compelling communication and presentation skills. Enthusiasm and belief in what you are presenting. No selling skills there.

Where are the selling skills? They are not needed to make a huge sale. Finding and understanding buying motives requires thinking time and studying time — two things you probably have never written in your day planner or entered on your electronic calendar.

You know my trademarked sales mantra: People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy. When you find a motive, you come to an understanding. A rapport. A common ground.

A sale.

Free GitBit — Want more info on why they buy? I have developed a list for retail and B2B that will give you a few ideas on creating a buying mood. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time user, and enter the words BUYING MOOD in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of “The Sales Bible” and “Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless.” He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com