More sales are lost by “selling” than by any other sales error.

Sounds kind of weird, I know. But after reading this, you’ll not only understand why, you’ll also begin to rethink and transform your selling ways.

Your selling skills are not nearly as powerful as the customer’s reasons for buying. In fact, your reasons for selling are useless if they don’t match the customer’s reasons for buying.

This reasoning is as powerful as it is overlooked.

Ask yourself this: “Why did my last 10 customers buy from me?” My bet is that you don’t know. I’m talking about knowing the real motives, not the surface ones like price or friendship. If uncovering these motives is at the heart of your success, take a deeper look at what caused the purchase.

What are buying motives?

They are the real reasons for making a purchase.

Many times the salesperson (not you, of course) is fooled into believing that the surface issue is the real reason for the purchase. When a potential customer asks for “bids,” the salesperson thinks that “low price” is the motive, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Think about the way you buy. First, there’s a reason; then you go shopping. Same with your customers. Price is simply a barrier to owning what you want or need.  And if you dig deeper into the buying motive, you will move higher in the decision-making chain (above purchasing and procurement). Cool, huh?

Now here’s the best part: It’s hard work. This means you eliminate all the lazy salespeople from the race.

OK, let’s get down to the motives for buying. To find them, you need to delve deeper, especially if you want to make price less of a barrier. And remember, there may be several motives for the same purchase.

Let me give you some possible motives as food for thought. To make it easier, I have broken them down by category:

Purchase-oriented motives: Out of stock; need for production; need for manufacturing; need for business operation; previous experience.  Emotion-oriented motives: High desire; value of purchase; desire to gain; in a panic (timing issue); vanity or greed; low risk or no risk.

Experience-oriented motives: Preconceived notion; previous experience; certain of performance; confidence in quality; confidence in service; brand loyalty; supplier loyalty; salesperson loyalty.

Profit- or money-oriented motives: Fear of losing ground to competition; fear of losing customers; fear of losing revenues; better productivity or performance; reduced work or increased efficiency; increased profits; available money or budget; best choice; best price; cheapest price. (I put this here because price could be the real motive to buy — although it rarely is.)

Results-oriented motives: Increase customer loyalty; enhance brand value; improve market image; improve the present product; gain a competitive advantage.

Which motives fit your customers?

Answer: Lots of them. More than you know.  Uncovering them is the key to your sales, and remember that often the key is a combination of motives.

Are some motives more powerful than others? Heck, yeah! For example, fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain. You determine the value by the number of sales that result from each motive you uncover.

How do you expose these all-important motives? You start with the past. Look at past successes. Then add loyal customers.

Existing customers will help you understand the reasons they buy from you. Explore their history. Get their experience. Ask deep. Three or four consecutive “why” questions will get to the hidden motives. Get their story on the long-term use of your product or service (even if it wasn’t purchased from you). Motive after motive will come forth.  Then explore the dark side. The real truth will come from lost customers. Why did they leave you? What motive wasn’t met? You may even renew a few relationships and regain some lost customers.

Here’s a motivating way to perceive this process: Don’t think of it as “motive.” Think of it as “money.” Finding the motive means finding the money, or at least the path that will lead you there.

Show me the motive, and I’ll show you the 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. Want it? 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, author of “The Sales Bible,” is now offering licensed training programs to corporations, as well as distributorships to individuals, based on his best-selling books and the TrainOne online learning series. This process is starting with his newest book, “The Patterson Principles of Selling.” Jeffrey can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.