Food for thought

Is it possible for somebody to be hungry but not know what they want to eat? -Community Mailbox

Not to be insulting... but is there a real human coming up with this? -rattus58

Yes. The question explores buying decisions outside of the box as a method of looking at a common situation without typical biases. -Community Mailbox

Well you've lost me.... I've NO IDEA what you're asking... as for hunger, go to Africa sometime.... -rattus58

How about an example?

I'm becoming exhausted trying to read your mind. -rattus58

Let's put this idea back in the box and talk in sales terms. Is it possible for somebody to have a recognized want/need but not know how to satisfy it? What percentage of prospects that contact you/ your office fit that description? -Community Mailbox

Unless this is a trick question, the answer is obviously YES. I'm not sure what the motivation is to post questions on a forum like this that have obvious answers, but maybe I'm missing something.

The answer will depend upon who's making the determination about if the need can be satisified. Both the salesperson and the customer could answer this question, and with different answers. -Skip Anderson

In this thread already one person has felt the question asked was obvious while for another it was not so obvious. Two different people with two different perspectives which is to be expected.

The commonality between the two however is what some might perceive as disrespectful replies. Would you reply to your customers in the same fashion if he or she asked a question you felt was obvious or didn't understand or would you first seek to understand... maybe ask a few well chosen questions for clarification? -Community Mailbox

I've been selling all my life, but rarely does someone contact me as a "salesperson." They contact me because my fields of specialty suggest that I can provide answers and/or solutions within the realms of those fields.

How that relates to selling is simple. I'm in business and my products and services need to be sold--like in all businesses. But people contact sources and when I am the source that is contacted it is both an opportunity to serve and to add new clients.

I say all of that as a preface to my answer to the topic's question. If people had the answers and could take care of the matters themselves, I would not be contacted.

But food for thought is food for thought, and the value of some of these questions whose answers seem obvious is to whet our appetites and get us thinking beyond what we think we already know. I believe that is Jeff's reason for having these questions posted.

The person who posed the topic's question took the risk of not being clear when he/she asked the question outside of the sales box. Is selling who we are or is it what we DO? It is my belief that if we choose the former, it is very self-limiting.

Yes--food for thought does whet the appetite. Self knowledge seems awfully inviting. -Ace Coldiron