@thesotiris 2 October 2025 more from that month

How to Do Sales 2: The objective of sales

The objective of an offering is to solve a problem, and the objective of sales is to see whether your offering can adequately address your prospect’s problem. Your job as a salesperson is to pinpoint that specific problem in that specific way it is being faced by your prospect. You must then clarify it, verbalise it, and make sure that your offering sufficiently addresses that problem, in all the ways — and only in those ways — that each of your prospects needs it to be addressed. Don’t oversell it; if you focus on benefits that are not relevant at all to your prospect, they will suspect that you don’t truly understand their individual case, and they will be hesitant to trust you, let alone trust what you offer. Trust is everything. You earn trust only by taking the time, by making the effort to empathise and see the world from someone else’s perspective. Discussing price comes after because they wouldn’t know the true value of your offering for them unless they know precisely what it can do for them. What’s most important in sales is that you **acknowledge that their individual case is unique**, and the problem they face is not faced by anyone else quite the same way. People need to be heard and understood. Then, you simply show them how your offering solves or addresses their problem. Simply show them; don’t insist that it is the right choice for them. **Groundedness** Show some humility in recognising that there are competitors out there, and that your offering isn’t the only one. You might think that displaying unrelenting confidence — and arrogance — in your solution will make your prospects conclude that it must be the best for them. But this caricature of the pushy, sleazy ‘used car sales guy’ is getting old. Sure, it works to bring easy, quick sales for salespeople who don’t plan on building a reputation for their brand (nor for themselves), selling to impressionable buyers who fall for telemarketing junk and phishing scams. But people are wising up. Sleazy sales tactics don’t work well anymore, and when they do, they result in **buyer’s remorse** and irreparable damage to reputation and to long-term business viability. https://lessonsfromregret.substack.com/p/how-to-do-sales-1 **Ownership of the decision** Once you show them how your offering can address their problem and unique, personal considerations and circumstances, you allow them time and space **to conclude on their own** that your offering is a good potential choice for them, so that every time they encounter their problem, they’ll think of your offering. This realisation, in time, might lead them to the decision to buy it. It’s important to **let them make the decision themselves** — don’t make it for them, and certainly don’t be pushy. If they feel they’ve concluded that your offering is the best option for them, then **they own** the choice, and they will dive into it with more confidence and with more tolerance to price. Not only that, but if they experience buyer’s remorse, they’re more likely to be self-accountable, since they never felt pushed by you — they made their own mind. You accomplish this by confidently presenting your offering’s case while acknowledging that there are other, valid competitors out there. You humbly **ask for their opinion**: “*What do you think? Will this work for you? I honestly think this is a good option for you, but ultimately, you know more about your situation than I could ever understand. Obviously, I can’t know the inner workings of your company or your individual circumstances as well as you do, but do you think I made enough effort to understand them as well as possible? Do you think my offering can address your concerns and solve your problem, or is there something we’re missing? Anything at all?*” Who wouldn’t appreciate this kind of honesty? Yes, some people get mesmerised by bamboozling, arrogant dominators with a faux-confident demeanour that fools children, not adults. But as a salesperson, you need to **be choosy with your clientele** just as they are choosy with their purchases. Avoid impressionable people who’d buy anything. Your offering deserves people who appreciate it. **Solution categories** Sales is about discovering how your offering addresses your prospect’s individual problems from their unique perspective and considering their personal considerations. Let’s break down the ways by which your solution solves problems — or more accurately, the types of problems that every offering solves. **Makes money**. Your offering helps your prospects diversify and innovate. It **empowers decisions**, provides clarity, insight, or strategic advantage, or simply helps improve their efficiency and effectiveness in acquiring resources. **Saves money**. Your offering offers convenience, saves energy, effort, and time (time is money). **Protects money**. Your solution gives them peace of mind. It reduces risk and threat, and allows them to lean back feeling safer about their investments, their property, their physical integrity, and their personal or professional viability. It gives them confidence that their future is predictably safe. **Builds identity**. Your offering nurtures their sense of individual and/or collective identity. It builds status, satisfies a desire, and fosters meaningful and useful relationships. It creates legacy, self-esteem, and confidence, and it aligns with your prospect’s values, beliefs, ethics, reputation, and perceived social expectations. It improves their position in their tribe, their society, their family, and their circles. It grants them confidence, self-esteem, and yes, even arrogance, if that’s what they desire. It makes them feel more attractive, accomplished, desired, loved, respected, and valued. Ask yourself where your offering fits in the above categories from the perspective of your lead. This is the vector by which you approach your sales pitch. **Need vs. want** You might say that some offerings don’t fall into any of the above categories, such as those addressing basic survival needs (water, food, and basic attire and accommodation). This is true, but there is a huge **difference between what people want and what people need**. https://sotiris.substack.com/p/need-versus-want **We resent what we need**, because it is forced on us by our inescapable nature. This is why **we pay the least on the things we need the most** (water, food) and the most on things we could easily live without (entertainment, needless luxuries, hobbies, useless status symbols that aren’t fooling anyone). You’d be outraged if someone forced you to pay for air, the thing you need the most. But you don’t mind paying handsomely for needlessly overpriced luxury cars that offer nothing but hype. Things we need don’t require sales. They might require some marketing and branding to create awareness. But basic sustenance doesn’t require a sales force to see whether their offering solves your problem. A need you reluctantly have to satisfy just to survive, and you aren’t fussy about any other value it might give you. Cheap groceries don’t need sales. However, when food is sold as a luxury and status symbol (say, an expensive catering event), then food becomes a want, not a need. And wants require sales.