Returning to the essence of paint sales, as a professional enterprise engaged in paint research and development, production, sales, and service, what can we truly offer customers in the sales process? Is it absolutely high-quality paint products or absolutely high-quality sales services? These are questions we need to consider. When we sell, do we focus more on the product itself and conduct systematic research and analysis on customer needs? I cannot say for sure.

　　As a salesperson or marketing personnel, one must remember a saying: sell products based on customer needs. We satisfy customer needs rather than create them (of course, in some marketing fields, some people have suggested that we should create and guide demand; here we will not delve into this deeply. Our analysis is that we need to meet customer needs based on their demands). Paints, as durable consumer goods for home decoration, inevitably become products that many consumers choose carefully. The more durable the consumer goods are, the more meticulous consumers will be when selecting them. They will invest greater effort in choosing the paint they want. However, when communicating with customers, our excessive focus on their selection of paint leads us to place the emphasis of sales on the paint itself while neglecting customers' true needs for the product. Based on our analysis of customer needs in the paint industry, these needs can be categorized into several types for extensive discussion among paint sales personnel.

　　Meeting functional demands

　　Functional selling points are certainly familiar to sales personnel in the paint industry. The paint industry is one of the earliest and most widely used industries for functional selling points within building materials. It has introduced various aspects such as wear resistance, impact resistance, and environmental protection regarding functional selling points of paints. We first heard about skating on paints or setting off firecrackers on paints; dogs urinating on paints; people stepping freely on paints—these are all functional selling points provided by the paint industry. There are even paints that can achieve E0 level health standards or produce negative ions; these applications showcase functional selling points effectively. In specific historical contexts and under certain customer perceptions of products, these functional selling points can be very effective. At that time, customers could enthusiastically introduce to relatives and friends how wear-resistant their paints were or how environmentally friendly they were. Our sales personnel would not miss out on emphasizing these aspects during sales.

　　Meeting aesthetic demands

　　Aesthetic demands come from consumers who have a certain pursuit of quality of life. After meeting basic living needs, they seek to enhance their quality of life through upgrades. For these consumers choosing paints is no longer just about satisfying functional selling points; they also want their aesthetic demands met—meaning that their desire for aesthetics surpasses their need for functionality. Aesthetic products tend to be priced higher than those focused solely on functionality due to price differences in paints leading to enhanced functional selling points at this time; consumers pay more attention to product aesthetics when purchasing. Therefore, when dealing with relatively high-end products—especially those with aesthetic characteristics—we should emphasize aesthetic selling points during our sales process so that customers feel a difference between using this type of paint versus ordinary ones in terms of taste. For example: we can describe lifestyles that evoke associations with using this product to satisfy certain aesthetic desires.

　　Meeting personalized demands

　　Personalized demands are diverse; today’s material life is extremely rich as people begin pursuing more individuality. As individuality becomes prominent, there has been a change in demand for decorative materials such as paints—for instance; many consumers no longer simply apply paint to floors but also use it on ceilings or even create personalized furniture with it—these reflect maximum expression of personalized demand which effectively supplements ordinary consumer groups.

　　The aforementioned functional selling points, aesthetic demands, and personalized demands all supplement consumer preferences in painting choices. If our sales personnel continue discussing only products without analyzing customer needs from their perspective at this point then it becomes easy to misjudge consumer requirements leading us far from what customers actually need resulting only in unsatisfactory purchases or choices which ultimately affects our sales outcomes.

　　When encountering customers who do not pay particular attention to the product itself we must approach fulfilling their needs from another angle starting from understanding customer requirements deeply so as to maximize value realization.