London, 1854.
Cholera is killing thousands.
Everyone thinks they know why.
Bad air.
Doctors, politicians and officials try to cleanse the air. Remove the stench. Move the sick.
One doctor, John Snow, suspects something else.
But he does not begin by trying to convince anyone.
He begins by gathering evidence.
Street by street.
House by house.
He maps every death.
In the end, everything points to the same place.
A water pump on Broad Street.
The pump handle is removed. The well can no longer be used. Shortly after, the outbreak fades.
John Snow was not looking for a solution. He was looking for the cause.
That insight is just as relevant in B2B sales.
Customers tend to describe their symptoms.
Rarely the cause.
“Our CRM is outdated.”
“We need AI.”
“Our salespeople haven’t kept up.”
“Our costs are too high.”
Perhaps.
But what if all of it is just symptoms?
Many salespeople accept the customer’s definition of the problem and start optimising the solution.
A better price.
Faster delivery.
More features.
It is like treating the symptoms while the cause remains untouched.
The best salespeople don’t start with the solution.
They start with a different question.
What is the underlying cause creating the symptoms the customer is trying to solve?
Whoever shapes the customer’s definition of the problem shapes the entire deal.
How often do your sales conversations centre on the solution, rather than the cause?
Do the Upstream analysis and see where your sales conversations stand today.
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