The Most Dangerous Question in Sales

The drive from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boone is a breathtaking weave through the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the ancient Appalachian range. I'm here to spend the week with a group of students attending the Kellar Media Career Academy, who are about to embark on their own breathtaking ride as they pursue careers in media and broadcasting.

Every year, I have the opportunity to spend time with students who are excited to enter our industry. They bring energy, curiosity and lots of questions. One question comes up almost every year:

“What should I sell?”

It's a logical question. After all, salespeople sell things, right? Radio stations sell advertising. Car dealers sell vehicles. Realtors sell homes. Technology companies sell software.

The problem is that “What should I sell?” is possibly one of the most dangerous questions a salesperson can ask because the moment you focus on the product, you risk losing sight of why people buy.

In our Radio Marketing Professional (RMP) Certification course, we teach what we call the Rules of Advertising. The first rule of advertising is simple: People don't buy products and services. They buy what those products or services do for them.

That idea isn't new. Years ago, Theodore Levitt, the legendary marketing professor at Harvard Business School, introduced the concept of the Total Product. His argument was simple yet powerful. Customers rarely buy a product for its own sake. They buy the outcome the product creates.

• People don't buy drills. They buy holes.
• People don't buy mattresses. They buy a better night's sleep.
• People don't buy gym memberships. They buy health, confidence and a better quality of life.

In our business, advertisers don't buy radio schedules, streaming impressions, websites, social media campaigns or digital banners. They buy customers. They buy awareness. They buy traffic. They buy growth.

The distinction matters because products change. Platforms evolve. Technology advances. Customer needs remain surprisingly consistent.

Today’s multidimensional marketing landscape creates incredible excitement and tremendous opportunities. New tools appear almost daily. Salespeople are being bombarded with demonstrations, features and capabilities. Many are asking the same question the students in Boone will ask:

“What should I sell?”

• Radio schedules?
• Pre-Roll?
• Search optimization?
• Streaming?
• Podcasts?
• Video?
• Data?

The answer is the same today as it was when Levitt introduced the Total Product Concept decades ago. The question should not be “What should I sell them?” The better question is:

“What problem am I helping solve?”

Great salespeople understand that customers wake up thinking about their businesses, not your products. They worry about attracting customers, increasing revenue, hiring employees, managing expenses and staying competitive. They don't spend much time thinking about advertising schedules, digital dashboards or the latest AI platform. That's why the best sales conversations rarely start with products. They start with problems.

Products come and go. Problems stick around.

• What are you trying to accomplish?
• What's getting in the way?
• What happens if nothing changes?
• How will you measure success?

Those questions uncover opportunities that product-focused sellers never find. Ironically, when you truly understand the problem, the product often becomes obvious.

Theodore Levitt's work remains relevant because human nature hasn't changed. People still buy outcomes. They still buy solutions. They still buy confidence that tomorrow will be better than today.

The next time you're preparing for a sales call, resist the temptation to ask, “What should I sell?”

Instead, ask yourself, “What problem am I trying to solve for the client?”

Because the most successful salespeople don’t sell products. They help people create better futures.

Think Big, Make Big Things Happen!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on X, YouTube, and LinkedIn.