Which would you rather do: convince someone to buy, or take orders from people who already want to buy? We'd all love to have the world beating a path to our doors to buy our mouse traps. But in the real world, they don't come just because you built it.

Once you've got a product to sell, you have to tell the world about it. But that doesn't mean you have to turn turn into a greasy-haired car salesman.

The famous management consultant Peter Drucker said, "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous." In other words, your job as a marketer is to help people convince themselves to buy from you. And in fact, sometimes if you're trying too hard to sell, you're going to shoot yourself in the foot.

Last month, Bill Flagg posted an article about a company that increased their sales by getting rid of their inbound sales team (the sales people who responded to customer inquiries):

Instead of prospective customers going through a salesperson and being "closed" by them, they now speak directly with the basement design team. The designer asks the customer what they envision, what their budget range is, and then gives the customer a design. The customer then chooses to buy.

...

What's the difference in sales so far? Close rates and profitability have nearly doubled.

Imagine you're one of their prospective customers. You want a basement redesign. You go to them and ask about getting a basement redesign. Do you need someone to sell you on getting a basement redesign?

Uh, no. You're already sold -- the only question is whether you're going to buy from them or someone else. What you want is to talk to someone about what they can do for you and for how much. And the quicker you can get down to details, the better.

I don't know what their old sales people did. Maybe they presented the entry-level, mid-range and deluxe packages, and tried to steer people toward the deluxe. The problem with that kind of approach is that it's too abstract. Sure, the deluxe package includes fancier wood and high-end speakers for the entertainment room -- which, all other things being equal, we'd all prefer -- but if the design itself is ugly, well then so what?

Reader Comment:
Laura said:
"Everyone likes to buy, but no one likes to be sold." You are so right. I do believe if we just share what we have to offer with integrity and a desire to truly be of service, we will prosper as well. By the way, I really appreciate the hon...
(join the conversation below)

If a prospect comes to you asking for a basement design, show them a basement design, not a selection of beautiful hardwoods.

If a prospect comes to you asking how to use social media for marketing, don't spend 10 pages blabbering about how the fortune you've made using social media made you the envy of your high school valedictorian -- get right to the part about what you did with social media and what results you got.

Just to be clear, what I'm saying applies more when the customer is coming to you vs. when you're trying to capture the interest of cold prospects. But even then, more "marketing" and less "selling" will reduce the amount of resistance you have to overcome.

Everyone likes to buy, but no one likes to be sold. So focus on helping people buy rather than on selling. Focus on connecting the customer with what they want rather than moving more inventory.

I can still remember, many years ago, shopping for a new monitor for my Mac. Back then, Macs used a different kind of monitor connector than PCs. As a sales person came up to me, I prepared myself for an annoying sales pitch. But instead, he asked me a question or two, discovered that I had a Mac, and showed me an adapter that would enable me to use a PC monitor. Then he got out of the way, and I bought a monitor (and the adapter).

He didn't have to sell me a thing. Instead, he helped me buy what I wanted.

Show people how to get what they want, and make it as easy for them as possible, and you'll sell without selling. That's marketing.