--- title: Stop with the “What Keeps You Up at Night” Sales Technique Already! description: Learn a critical sales technique that will help you avoid the “what keeps you up at night” sales approach. image: https://www.advantexe.com/hubfs/Blogs/what-keeps-you-up-at-night.png --- [![logo-advantexe-150.png](https://www.advantexe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-advantexe-150.png?width=150&height=123&name=logo-advantexe-150.png "logo-advantexe-150.png")](https://www.advantexe.com) ![blog-banner-2022](https://www.advantexe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-banner-2022.png?width=973&name=blog-banner-2022.png "blog-banner-2022") ### The Advantexe Advisor Blog - providing a deep and applicable understanding of the system of business. # Stop with the “What Keeps You Up at Night” Sales Technique Already! By Robert Brodo | Nov 4, 2015 10:56:46 PM | [![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on LinkedIn](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/linkedin-24x24.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=Stop%20with%20the%20%E2%80%9CWhat%20Keeps%20You%20Up%20at%20Night%E2%80%9D%20Sales%20Technique%20Already%21) [![Share on Pinterest](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/pinterest-24x24.png)](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dpinterest&media=) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fstop-with-the-what-keeps-you-up-at-night-sales-technique-already%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) ![sales technique](https://www.advantexe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blogs/what-keeps-you-up-at-night.png?width=700&height=185&name=what-keeps-you-up-at-night.png "sales technique") For decades, sales professionals have been relying on an antiquated and somewhat inappropriate sales technique that starts with asking a prospective customer the question, “so, what keeps you up at night?” in hopes that the potential customer will spill his heart out about all of his problems and the sales person will swoop in like Superman with a solution that will solve all of the customer’s problems and let the poor customer sleep again (and live happily ever after). While that may have worked in 1985, [I don’t think it works very well in 2015](https://www.advantexe.com/blog/give-that-cold-calling-sales-professional-a-little-respect). Customers are smarter, more aware, more proactive, and have a significant amount of information already about the vendors and what they offer. In other words, selling this way is lazy and ineffective. A more effective sales methodology is to sell like a business person; do your homework and deeply understand your customer from a business perspective so that you can provide a business solution. Here are six proactive and quick tips from Advantexe’s [Strategic Business Selling curriculum](https://www.advantexe.com/strategic-business-selling-skills) that can help you evolve from the what-keeps-you-up-at-night mentality. **1) Understand your customer’s business strateg**y Go online to conduct the research and ask the right questions to determine the customers’ business strategy and value proposition to their customers. Everything in this sales process starts with making sure that you understand what the customers are trying to achieve from a business perspective. **2) Understand your customer’s financial position** Make sure that you conduct the research needed to understand their financial position by assessing their P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow report. Doing this will enable you to determine if there are any business challenges that your solution can help them solve or better yet, if there are opportunities that the customers have that you can help them with based on your understanding of their financial position.  **3) Understand who your customers’ customers are** Knowing to whom your customers are selling is absolutely critical to your success. How you position your value in terms of the value stream can help your customers realize how they are going to achieve their sales goals and objectives (not yours). **4) Understand your customers’ personality styles** Different people have different personality styles. Do you understand your personality style? Do you understand your customers’ personality styles? Do you know how they match up and what you need to do to deliver the right perception, brand, and solution to your customers? Spending time on personality styles can make a huge difference. **5) Determine your customers’ value dashboard™** Do you know what your customers really value and why they are going buy from your or one of your competitors? What are their drivers and what is the criteria for their final decision? **6) Position value in business terms** After you have done your homework and understand your customers from the business perspective, do you have the skills needed to position value in terms of how you are going to solve your customers’ business challenges (as opposed to selling features or, worse yet, asking “what keeps them up at night?”). Positioning value and [providing insights](https://www.richardson.com/Featured-Richardson/selling-with-insights-sales-training/) can include illustrating how your solution will help your customer increase revenue, decreases costs, or both. I know I will sleep better if I know there are more sales professionals selling from a business perspective. Please feel to reach out if you would like more information. [![Business-acumen-Resource-center](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/1153922/74374c59-0081-48d4-a8f8-a29eb548f2ff.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/1153922/74374c59-0081-48d4-a8f8-a29eb548f2ff)   ![Robert Brodo](https://www.advantexe.com/hubfs/Blogs/rob-brodo-author.png) **About The Author** Robert Brodo is co-founder of Advantexe. He has more than 20 years of training and business simulation experience. [**](https://www.advantexe.com) [**](https://twitter.com/robrodo) [**](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-brodo/0/334/574) COMMENTS ### SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL ### About Advantexe Advantexe is a gold medal winning training and performance improvement organization specializing in the development and delivery of interactive learning journeys using computer-based business simulations as the catalyst for learning and change in the areas of: Business Acumen, Business Leadership, and Strategic Business Selling learning solutions. 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