By Sid Chadwick, Chadwick Consulting, Inc.
“People don’t know what they want… until we show them.”………Steve Jobs
INTRODUCTION:
We’ve all seen it happen…..we’ve all done it…….(maybe)………..
The Rep hands the Buyer a new, well-designed Self-Promotion piece…about a new, spectacular capability…. our company has just invested in (both self-promotion piece and capability)…. for our Reps to distribute……initially….to our most important customers…..
However……….
No one….is asked to demonstrate a….”Customer Presentation”….for the Team to observe…and… one Rep at a time….show how they would present the new capability and self-promotion piece…..better….than the previous presenter…in the safety of our Sales Education Meeting. (My bias is that the Boss should go first…so everyone can have a “crack at him/her” --- and thus encourage everyone to improve ….and give…. their best demo….)
Moving forward…..as a “check on reality”….at the Buyer/Customer’s office, toward the end of the Sales Call, our Rep hands the Buyer the Presentation piece about the new, spectacular capability…and says, with a tone of shyness…. something like….”When you have time, look this over….it’s really pretty neat.” (I’m aware…not all Reps perform like this…but… too many do.)
After our Rep is out of the Buyer/Customer’s office, the Buyer/Customer looks at the self-promotion piece…maybe opens the first page…and then, looking at his/her watch, pitches the expensive self-promotion piece….
Treating that expensive self-promotion capability…in a similar manner….to how the Rep was (not) trained.
At a CEO Peer Group Meeting last week, one of our star owners was understood to say, words to the effect,
“I can not accept what I believe our Reps are telling our Customers and target Prospects… re. why they should do business with us…..everything I believe our Reps are saying…our competitors could copy…..we’re better than that….!”
SUMMARY:
If we don’t know…what’s most important to our Buyer/Customer…for 2019… is that a good place to start…changing our focus….from us…to our customer?
“How important” to your Customer’s future business success…. did your most recent Customer Survey say you are…. ?
What did your Buyer/Customer write…. on their recent “Plant Tour Survey” --- which you gave them as they were leaving from your/their Plant Tour?
What did you ask them to evaluate…and what did those evaluations say…?
What did your Buyer/Customer say….on their recent “Press/Check Survey”…..which you gave them to fill-out, pre-addressed and pre-stamped….as they were leaving your plant…?
Excellence comes in many shapes, personalities….and moments….and almost always requires observation, discussion, intention, training…and commitment.
Buyers…quietly recognize --- by what suppliers do, and how they do it ---“ the Integrity” of those suppliers… who really care…and… those who don’t --- but seem to have all the right “social graces”.
Buyers/Customers I believe will treat important…what our Reps treat as important.
Which Buyers/Customers are you most important to, and do you know why that relationship exists…..?
From one of our client’s recent Customer Surveys, over 30 Customers…said “YES”… we want to provide you a Referral………..!...(Priceless…!)
“Creativity without Strategy… is just entertainment”…………Brian Faulkner, Emmy Award-Winning Writer
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