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In many organisations, failure in business comes from a failure to communicate within the organisation. The marketing people and executive staff at the headquarters may be equipped with reams of data illustrating customer needs and the problems customers face, which can be solved with the company's products … but how often is the guy on the street making the sale given the benefit of this awareness?

The typical salesman has a very friendly personality. He knows how to read people and react to their problems. He is highly motivated. He works hard, usually socialising with his customers, and is quick to respond to their requests.

But in today's world, this stereotype is often not so successful. So, let us discuss a new way to make a sale.

Knowing a customer is more than knowing where he likes to drink and when to send flowers for his wife's birthday. Today, to succeed in business, first of all, the salesman must know how the customer wants to succeed. What are the customer's hopes for his business? Is he trying to reduce costs? Improve efficiency? Get more value for money? Is he willing to pay more to get more? Knowing how your customer plans on making money in his business will help you determine what the right products are to sell to him.

A recent start-up I was working for failed to understand its customer's business model. The start-up was so convinced their product was great that they ignored industry standards. "We are different", they said. "We do not fit the mould. We do things differently." Failing to fit into the way the customer did business doomed the start-up's product line.

Next, the salesman has to understand how the customer makes decisions. Is it a committee, one person, top-down or bottom-up? Before you can sell people something, you must know how they will buy.

How many times have you spent hours, if not months, building a relationship with one person, only to see that person quit or be transferred? Success in selling involves developing a range of relationships, from the secretary right up to the chief executive.

This is linked with the previous idea: An understanding of how the customer makes his decision needs to be combined with a strong relationship with all key decision makers.

Lastly, we need to understand the customers' business needs - not just what features they say they want or what price point they demand you match. Once you understand that, you can design the right product and show your customers how your product will meet and surpass their business objectives.

The key here is not to sell your customer the product you have but to let him buy the product you have designed to solve his problem.

Successful selling comes from building trust with many people over a long period of time. From trust will come the information you need to close the deal.