Stop Selling Products and Start Sharing Your Ideas

Small minds, discuss people, average minds, discuss events, but great minds discuss ideas

­– Socrates

When selling, average producers discuss products.

Top professionals share ideas.

‘Idea’ is a powerful word. It’s a clean four-letter word that can be applied to any product or service.

No matter what you’re offering, you can connect it to an idea.

Ideas are powerful. A prospect will most likely be interested in considering an idea that will offer a solution, particularly one that will satisfy a hot button need.

Ideas arouse curiosity.

Ideas avoid judgement.

Ideas provide the fastest way to get initial meetings with prospective clients.

Ideas are the perfect way to turn a need into a hot button need.

Before Apple released the iPhone in 2007, there was a need for cell phones, digital music storage and digital address books. Like many people, I was using separate devices to meet that need. The idea of having a phone that combined all these functions, and more, in one device turned the need into a hot button one.

Top professionals do the same thing with their products or services. They package them as provocative and insightful ideas, which challenge the status quo and offer prospects something that will genuinely benefit them.

Get the idea: 7 steps to powerful ideas sharing

Follow these steps to engage in ideas sharing:

Think consciously and deliberately about the value your products or services will deliver to clients

Use observations and insights and do research into your niche markets to pinpoint the problems your prospects and clients are facing, and the ways in which you can solve them with your products or services

Do some detailed research and put a price tag on each problem. What is it costing in time, money, resources and lost opportunities?

Create a specific idea for each problem you uncover

Package your ideas into solutions that will address and satisfy your clients’ hot button concerns, needs and problems

Keep the packages simple so prospective clients can understand them easily

Find people experiencing problems and present your ideas to them.

Your ideas are silver bullets – solutions to address and resolve the hot button concerns, needs and problems of prospective clients.

They’ll be ready to meet you to discuss how you can be of help.

Selling with ideas that address hot button needs will help you land more initial meetings, and market and sell within your comfort zone without having to resort to unpleasant methods like cold calling.

Stop selling products. Instead, start presenting your ideas.

When you find a prospective client, simply say, ‘I have few ideas about how to solve …. I think you’ll find it interesting. Can we have a brief conversation?

That’s how you land initial meetings with prospective clients. Get the idea?

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash