Your Sales Problems Should Not Be Your Customer’s Problem

If you attend enough networking events, you will eventually hear this kind of sales message:

Please help me win a vacation, pay for unexpected expenses, make the next level, etc. by buying my product. What’s wrong with this picture?

First of all, I’m not opposed to sharing with others that you are facing a challenge or problem situation. I definitely believe that we should all be open and vulnerable with others. If you are facing personal challenges and need help coping, your business community may be a great place to ask for help. Certainly Covid and the recent turn of events has been an example of how we all need to support each other as much as possible.

On the other hand, too often I hear sales messages from others who want to increase sales and need “your help” to do so. Businesses should not survive and thrive based on help from others. So what is the magic formula?

A business should provide a product or service that “helps the customer” in some way. It solves a problem or meets a need or desire with excellence. When we ask someone to purchase from us to “help us” we devalue our product or service. We also put ourselves in a weakened position in the future where people don’t continue to buy from us because we in some way meet a need and benefit them, instead they buy out of a feeling of obligation to solve our problem.

And ultimately, if this request is repeated over and over, I believe it can result in a loss of sales rather than an increase in sales. Much like the boy who cries wolf, buyers expect that as a business you should be able to drive your own sales without asking for help to do so. They may begin to believe that there is something wrong with your product that you must continually ask for help to sell it. Don’t make your problem with sales into a problem customers must help you solve. Instead, look for how you can increase sales by helping others.