In this solo video, sales coach Ryan Dohrn introduces and advocates for "assumptive‑based selling," a technique that speeds up sales conversations by making logical, data‑driven assumptions about a prospect’s needs. He contrasts this approach with the traditional Customer Needs Assessment (CNA), arguing that CNA often uncovers what a customer wants rather than what they truly need. Drawing on over 30 years of sales experience and referencing the principles of The Challenger Sale, Dohrn explains how to use past customer data, case studies, and personal experience to craft credible assumptions that deepen connections and move prospects toward a deal faster. He offers practical advice for newcomers—such as asking managers for past success stories, preparing a set of “standard” questions, and confidently presenting assumptions—while acknowledging that being wrong is part of the sales gamble. The video ends with a motivational call‑to‑action, encouraging viewers to apply the technique, reach out for coaching, and leverage sales as a path to personal freedom and financial success.
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Hey friends, Ryan Dohrn here, your Global Sales Coach. Hope you're having a great week out there in sales land. Are you closing some business or what's going on this week? Are you struggling? Maybe you're struggling because you're not assuming the things you can do to help your customers. It's called assumptive-based selling— making assumptions based on logic, reason, data, past experiences. Assumptive-based selling is not going against consultative based selling. I'm just trying to get there faster. I'm just trying to get to the deal, to the conversation faster. Now, I'm not a person that's against the good old CNA, the customer needs assessment. Here's the problem with the CNA. The problem with the CNA is it normally identifies what somebody wants and not what somebody needs. Think about that. Do they really need it or do they want it? See, assumptive-based selling is a little bit different. Using data from past customers, data from past experiences, you're able to use the assumptive model to say, you know, hey Bill, hey Bonnie, I've worked with other customers similar to you. This is what I've observed they needed. This is what we've done that's worked. Are you in a similar situation? Can I help you with something like that as well? What I've discovered through years of doing this, 30-some years, friends, being in sales and marketing and theatrics of the sales, you know, business, the illusion of knowledge, if you will, is really if you can assume correctly, which it happens a lot if you're good at it, what you'll find is that you've got a deeper connection that happens faster. In a previous tip, you heard me talk about The Challenger Sale, which is the book that came out, you know, several years ago, still highly relevant. It's a lot of it is based on assumptions Knowledge that you've gleaned from past experiences. Well, Ryan, you know, I'm brand new to this, this, this company. I don't have any success stories. I have no knowledge. Ask. Sit down with your boss and ask, what have we done to solve problems? You want to go to— for customers in the past, you want to go into these conversations, these emails, these meetings, making some good quality assumptions. Hey friends, if you're wrong, you're wrong. I mean, sales is a little bit of a gamble anyway. Or what you can do is try to get a meeting with somebody to ask them all the standard 10 tall questions. They're going to be a little bit angry because it's like, oh boy, this is taking forever. Or you can hedge your bet towards the positive and go with an assumptive-based sale. You know, I've helped others in the past with this. You're in the same type of business. I assume you might have similar problems. They could say, well, I don't. Okay, well tell me, what can I do to be of help to you? When you wake up in the morning, if you plan to be in sales, you need to plan to be in a business that's ever-changing. If sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it, and they're not. I'm not against— I'm not against the customer needs assessment. I'm just getting further faster by making assumptions, and the vast majority of the time, friends, I'm right with my assumptions. I just am. If sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it. They're not, friends. We are the chosen few. We found careers, friends, that will feed our families for a lifetime. I go where I want, eat what I want, travel where I want. I mean, within reason. All because of sales. Take this advice, put it into action, take your sales life to places you never dreamed possible. I'm thrilled to be even a small part of your success. All right, friends, we'll see you next week. And if I can be of help to you, reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. I am back on the road, vaccinated and ready to go to your sales conferences and motivate your team to sales success. All right, we'll see you next week.
