Solve the Problem…First

by Dave Lawson

'Ding dong,' rang the doorbell. 

Slightly annoyed, I get up from the dinner table and open the door to find a young man with bushy black hair wearing an oversized, long-sleeved, workman's shirt standing on my walkway. 

With a smile, he introduces himself as a guy from a bug extermination company working on the house next door. 

His goal was to get my business, as well. 

His approach was the problem. 

He opened it up by saying Covid has been hard on everyone, including his company, and asked if I would like bug prevention treatment. 

He's right, Covid has been hard on many sectors of the economy. Not sure if exterminators have suffered, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. 

I politely turned him down because of our contract with another bug extermination company.

But that aside, I probably would have turned him down because of his approach. 

Sympathy should NEVER be your selling point in a service business or any business for that matter. 

When you use a sympathy approach, you're going in for the kill. You're praying on our most vulnerable side. And you're saying that your service is crap, so look at your payment as a donation. 

I saw this young man walk up and down the street. He was getting rejected by almost all of my neighbors. 

There's a possibility they, like me, have a subscription with another service, but I think he didn't sell himself as solving a problem, rather sold himself as a charity looking for donations. 

Instead, Do This

I bet if he would have started with the problem FIRST, he would've gained a customer or two. 

What's the problem?

'Ding dong.'

"Hi, I'm Mike from (bug service), and I'm helping your neighbor next door get rid of their ants. They have a pretty bad problem. 

And since you live on this street, there's a chance you have a problem. Do you?"

"Why, yes, I do!"

"How would you like to be ant-free all summer long? No critters on your food when you wake up in the morning?"

"That would be great."

"Well, my truck is here and one treatment is usually all it takes, but if they reappear, I'll come back anytime through the summer. It's all part of the one-time fee of $58.99. Are you interested?"

This guy was identifying my problem, and solving it, and guaranteeing his solution." 

That guy gets the sale. 

Conclusion

Don’t be desperate. Identify the problem and solve it. Marketing 101.