Are you selling what you want to sell or customers want to buy

Are you selling what you consider to be important or trying to understand what customers are actually buying from you? Very simple dilemma but for some reason companies in many cases do not spend enough time around it.

Few examples from my past to clarify this:

- Printer manufacturer is selling printers but customers have a need to enable and manage projects which require printing at some point of time

- Energy company is selling electricity contracts but customers want their home or business to run smoothly (and in energy efficient manner). Contract is on their mind only when they pay bills.

- Energy company is selling solar power panels but customers want to use electrical equipment in a place they couldn't earlier use

- Banks are selling financial products but consumers want to manage their personal financial situation (= to have enough money for everyday life and interest areas)'

- Logistical company is selling a logistical solution for online store owner but customers want to serve their own customers (not as sharp example as previous ones but you get the idea)

Few other examples

- Mobile phone company is selling a mobile phone with mobile internet solutions but customers want to stay in touch and be available where ever they are

- Car manufacturer is selling cars but customers want delightful use and ownerships of the car

Today even consumer companies want to sell solutions to customers. How many consumers want to buy a solution or is mentally buying a solution? Aren't we buying delightful moments or helping hands to our life? One could argue that these are just words and good advertising company can help to design a campaign to make the work. But are these just words? For example my mobile phone is a mobile internet solution but for some reason it has many irritating areas in usage situations. I have no clue why certain functionalities are categorized under applications and some others under office or tools. To make it a helping hand to my everyday life categories should be defined according to everyday life usage situations. It is a very different case mentally to design a helping hand to everyday life than mobile internet solution. Or what do you think?

B2B sales is even more interesting because revenue per customer has so much more potential than B2C. This revenue is a result of selling multiple different products and solutions to one customer. Personally I have done quite a lot B2B sales but also bought many things from companies. What has always wondered me and caused personal irritation towards many companies is this simple thing - too many sales executive do not spend enough or any time doing their very basic home work: learn and understand what and why I am interested to buy. Too many keep on selling features and product benefits and do not even notice that I am starting to be bored because discussion is not based on my business needs.

I have also noticed that some people are either too polite or embarrassed to say that they have lost interest or didn't even understand what all the features lingo meant. Unfortunately or fortunately I have many times interrupted these sales speeches and said to them that I am totally lost - I would like to buy following things but you are not selling what I need... or are you?

What is great about selling solutions in B2B arena (yes in B2B one can sell solutions because it is just a word which integrates complicated integration of products, services and customer care, highlighting words complicated integration) is that you can really point out F2F how much you understand customer's business. You can really define the benefits from the customer's business and business needs and you can tell it in f2F conversation. Even better is if your offering can genuinely deliver these benefits what is not always the case. On top of this every customer visit is an opportunity to learn more about customer's mindset and concerns they have in their own environment related to what you are selling... and later improve your offering based on this feedback. This happens only of course if you spend time to listen the customer and your own company's operating model actively absorbs customer feedback to improve the offering.

In a way social media is a F2F conversation with your consumer customers (applies to B2B as well but consumer business needs it more as said earlier). Of course I am not aware of many social media discussions and their content but how many times consumers have articulated that they want more features and solutions to fulfill their life? At least I have asked more simple to use products, better service levels, products sold as services, etc. with earlier mentioned objectives - to delight and give helping hand to my everyday life with my family.