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A Simple Strategy To Know What Is Important About Customer Desires So That You Sell More

Once you have down the basics of researching a customer's interest, how do you turn that information into useful knowledge? ?Doesn't it seem like there is too much information and not enough knowing?? Here's a simple strategy to get more from what you know about customer desires:

1. Test all assumptions objectively.? Anything you know about customer desires could be wrong and the only way to know for sure is to test. Make a list of your assumptions; test each one through surveys, marketing campaigns, and interviews with buyers.
2. Interview their other providers.? Who else serves the provider and what do they know?? Many of the other prospects vendors are open to bragging about the prospect, what they've done for them, and what they think. Utilize this information.
3. Focus on reasons at hand.? As you dig through information you may find yourself wandering off into new directions. This is dangerous. Maintain focus by revisiting the reasons for your research, note any tangential ideas to visit later, right now focus on the task at hand.
4. Narrow the scope of research.? Sometimes too much information is available, if you find yourself bogged down in details; go back to your purpose. With your purpose, focus on a specific element important to the prospect, its okay if you don't know everything.
5. Establish a basis for dialog.? Your research isn't just so you know more, but so you can connect in a meaningful conversation about the challenges a prospect faces. This dialog opens the door to providing a specific solution, instead of just casual conversation.

To make the most of this strategy, start from step one, and then work your way through to step five. You'll get better results by first performing background research that positions you as a customer insider. That step is prerequisite.

?The key to this effort is to know enough about customer desires that in a series of conversations with them you can prioritize each. You may find a handful of general desires that a weighted differently by different customers.

By arming your sales people with the general desires and teaching them this strategy, each selling encounter will balance on what's of interest to the buyer. You'll be perceived as a more relevant obvious provider.

What happens if you don't follow this strategy?

One of the biggest mistakes sales and marketing management makes in approaching prospective buyers is not clearly understand what motivates the buyer. Notice, the key word "buyer" -- it does you no good to get the interest of people who can't buy, or who aren't interested in buying.

By not following this strategy, many wander off into irrelevant areas that while interesting don't advance a sale. Prospective customers will feel you've wasted their time because you didn't have a clear picture of their concerns, nor enough information to prioritize their challenges.

You have just as much to lose by not following a strategy for knowing what is important about customer's desires as you do not understanding customer desires. Use this method to get in front of "buyers" and perk their interest in such a way they buy from you over anyone else.

/ applying-strategy | strategic-relations /

By Justin Hitt at March 23, 2006 3:57 PM  Subscribe in a reader