Start With Why: A Better Way to Sell Products and Services When you're in the business of selling products or services, there are ...
Start With Why: A Better Way to Sell Products and Services
When you're in the business of selling products or services, there are two main approaches you can take when reaching out to customers:
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What → How → Why
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Why → How → What
At first glance, these may appear similar — but in practice, they are completely different. Let’s explore how, using an example inspired by how Apple® may have approached its market to become a tech industry giant.
1. The Traditional Approach: What → How → Why
You approach a customer and say:
“I have a laptop for you that is nicely designed, and you’ll have a good experience if you buy it. Would you like to buy it?”
In this approach:
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What = Laptop
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How = Nicely Designed
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Why = You’ll have a good experience
This method starts with the product, talks about its features, and ends with a general benefit. It’s commonly used in product marketing, but it lacks emotional connection or deeper understanding of the customer's challenges.
2. The Empathic Approach: Why → How → What
Now let’s flip the approach and say:
“We understand you’ve been facing quality and performance issues — battery failures, keyboard problems, and system instability — with the laptops currently available in the market. To solve these problems and ensure uninterrupted performance for thousands of hours, we’ve designed this laptop for you. Would you like to try it?”
In this example:
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Why = You’re facing serious issues with current laptops
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How = We built a solution that guarantees stable, high-performance usage
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What = A new, carefully designed laptop
This method begins with empathy, focuses on customer pain points, and provides a tailored solution.
Why the Second Approach Works Better
The second approach is rooted in empathic communication. It's not about pushing a product. It’s about understanding the customer’s challenges and offering something that genuinely improves their experience.
This method reflects a customer-first mindset, where the goal is to solve problems rather than to maximize profits.
Profit should never be the intention.
It should be the natural result of understanding customer needs and delivering meaningful value.
Whether you're running a small business or a multinational corporation, success depends on the same principle:
Understand the “Why,” design the “How,” and deliver the “What.”
About Author: Junaid Tahir, a telecom engineer and a blogger, writes articles on wisdom, happiness and stress management. His articles can be read Here
