Nobody buys a drill. Nor a hole

In 1942, the United States was not yet involved in the European conflict against Nazi Germany. The American economy was still very detached from what was happening at home. And yet, in terms of sales development and salesperson training, it was a year that saw the emergence of a slogan that still has a great deal of meaning today (from Harvard professor Theodore Levitt).

People do not want a 1/4 inch drill, they want a 1/4 inch hole.

I'm no Harvard professor, but even if this quote is full of common sense, in reality, people don't buy a hole either. They buy something else. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's true that salespeople in general, whether professional salespeople or consultants and freelancers who have to sell their own services, talk about the drill they are selling. And not the hole. There are three reasons for this:

1. Comfort zone: First of all, the drill is what they know well, even very well. They have been trained in all the characteristics of this drill bit. What the metal it is made of, its optimal size or even the different sizes that exist for this drill bit, the best drill that would go with this drill bit, etc. This knowledge of the product and the service is the salesperson's comfort zone. What he knows by heart and therefore wants to talk about. It's only human, after all, to want to demonstrate all the things we know...

2. Scripts and internal fears: A script is that little voice we have deep inside that tells us how we should behave. It is also called the ego and this ego generally does everything it can to ensure that our situation does not improve, that we remain in a state of inertia. It is an important dynamic in sales but the subject of another post (you can read about sales mindset here). In short, there are many scripts that salespeople have in their heads: the customer is always right, you have to please the customer, you have to answer the customer's questions. And salespeople are often controlled by fear. Especially the fear of not satisfying the customer and thus losing the possible contract. So even if the salesperson has lots of questions to ask the prospects to satisfy his need for a lead, he doesn't dare to...

3. Lack of technique: Even if the salesperson managed to muster the necessary courage to ask the questions, they would lack the exact words to ask them. Human communication is complicated. We are steeped in our contradictions, our emotions, our cognitive biases, the scripts mentioned above. There are many techniques that allow us to communicate better, but they are not natural.

In short, salespeople talk a lot about their ‘drill bit’, their AI platforms, their SaaS solutions, etc., etc.

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When, too rarely, they do ask about this hole people need to drill, they nevertheless forget a crucial aspect that allows them to understand the person they talk to. Which allows them to understand if their prospect really needs this hole. In short, they forget to understand the reasons that lead the prospect to want to make a hole and above all, above all, what the impact would be for their prospect of not having this hole. Because people don't buy a hole. No. People buy a solution to avoid the consequences of not having a hole.

To stick with this same analogy (which is becoming difficult, I must admit), there are generally two possible impacts of not having a hole.

1- An impact on the house (or in your case, dear reader, on the organisation of the prospect). For example, walls that are not decorated. Or a messy house because the bookshelf has not been hung on the wall. This impact is significant but it is not the most important one.

2- The impact on the person. This is what motivates our prospect to make a hole. The impact of not having a hole in the wall. As counterintuitive as it may seem. For example, the prospect's wife will give him a hard time. Or during the next video call, he will be ashamed of the mess that will be visible because he was unable to hang the shelf.

Even though this famous quote from Theodore Levitt is over 80 years old, there are still tons of salespeople who talk about their wicks. It's a fact. Now that you know you need to stop talking about your product or service, let me ask you a question. What is the impact on your prospects of not using your product or service?

Attribution: Photo de Egor Dubrovsky under Creative Commons licence