What is Problem-Centred Selling? The Selling Collective.
- Matthew Earle
- Jan 2
- 2 min read
Updated: May 17
What is Problem-Centred Selling? The Selling Collective.
Why Solving Problems Beats Selling Products (And How to Do It Right) 🔥🔥🔥
What is Problem-Centred Selling? The Selling Collective.
Do you REALLY understand your customer? And I don't mean "do you know about the first problem they offered up". I mean do you know the chain of events, processes, failures that result in a TRUE and RELEVANT problem for the individual you are talking to?
Like peeling an onion, we should not stop at the first layer. Top performing sales people keep digging until they find the most impactful, painful and relevant problem for each individual in a decision making unit.
As Arash Naghavi states - “Sell the Hole, Not the Drill"
What do you think?
A recent example of this in action was an advert I saw on UK TV. The “seller” was an opticians that had previously focused on its low price and ubiquitousness but a new ad campaign had tried something different. The TV advertisement started with a person who had recently recovered from cancer and the narrator talked about the importance of early detection and how it had helped save this individuals life. It then proceeded to explain how this particular cancer had been detected by a regular eye test with the implication being that without that mundane (but often ignored) test this person may not have been alive.
This optician had moved their “value” from being a cheaper alternative and on every street corner, to a potential life saver. They were selling to the problem of cancer and not the assumed solution of cheaper frames, convenience etc.
Businesses often lose sight of this principle (what a pun 😎) and over time focus more on the product or service and not on the problem we must solve in order for our customers to be a success.
Thank You for Reading!
At The Selling Collective, we specialise in problem-centric sales training tailored to the unique challenges of B2B IT sales. With over 20 years of experience in IT B2B sales, we help sales professionals and leaders master the art of uncovering and solving customer problems, driving better outcomes and long-term success.
If you’re ready to transform your sales approach or want to learn more about our in-person training, coaching, and online courses, please don’t hesitate to get in touch:
Ready to Transform Your Sales Strategy?
If you’re serious about improving your team’s performance, The Selling Collective can help. Our problem-centred sales training equips B2B teams to build trust, generate pipeline, and close more deals.
Explore our free course, The Art of Problem-Centred Selling: Unlocking Sales Success, or book your free sales audit to identify the gaps holding back your sales team — and the fastest ways to fix them in your sales process.
Connect: LinkedIn – The Selling Collective
Stop wasting your first meetings. Start solving. Build Problem Focused Pipeline Generation Strategies.
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