Ed Albertson
Vice President - National Accounts
Carew International, Inc.
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."
We sales professionals take great pride in our eternal sense of optimism and our ability to thrive through sheer will under even the most difficult circumstances. We train for, plan for, end execute with that sense of optimism as we attempt to move our sales effort forward toward obtaining a customer decision. However, lest we create our own drama of disappointment, we are well served to retain an acute awareness of what our customer is doing in their decision-making process.
A valuable method for developing that awareness is to see things from our customer’s point of view and to consider where our customer is in their decision-making process. If we view our customer’s process as one of a problem-solving nature, we can better determine where they are in their decision-making process and what our appropriate efforts might be to help with that process. A customer’s problem-solving activity involves a five-step approach as follows:
1) Identify a goal and the barriers to that goal
2) Analyze the situation
3) Explore the options
4) Create an Action Plan
5) Monitor and follow-up the results
Given those five steps in which our customer is engaged as they move toward making their decision, we can “map” our efforts appropriately, providing the most value to our customer throughout the process. As our customer defines their goal and barriers, we can learn from their efforts and gain a perspective from their point of view. While our customer is analyzing their situation, we can explore their needs in terms of desired outcomes and problem resolutions. When customers begin to explore their options, we can assist them by outlining our capabilities in easily assessed terms of Features (what they are), Advantages (how they work) and Benefits (what they do for our customer). While customers set about creating an Action Plan, we can present a comprehensive solution that is both customer-centric and linked to their unique needs. Finally, as our customer monitors the implementation and follows up with the results, we can be most helpful with expanding the common ground of understanding, all the while growing our relationship and surfacing future potential for all.
An added bonus of this method allows us to provide our leadership with a much more accurate picture of our position and potential through identifying where our customer is in their problem-solving process as opposed to what we are doing to “sell” a solution. Not only does our projections become more accurate, it is consistent with our focus upon our customer and our intent to help them make good buying decisions. Then we can assure ourselves that our perceived motion reflects not that of the deceptively-moving rocking horse, but rather the forward speed of a thoroughbred race horse.
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."
We sales professionals take great pride in our eternal sense of optimism and our ability to thrive through sheer will under even the most difficult circumstances. We train for, plan for, end execute with that sense of optimism as we attempt to move our sales effort forward toward obtaining a customer decision. However, lest we create our own drama of disappointment, we are well served to retain an acute awareness of what our customer is doing in their decision-making process.
A valuable method for developing that awareness is to see things from our customer’s point of view and to consider where our customer is in their decision-making process. If we view our customer’s process as one of a problem-solving nature, we can better determine where they are in their decision-making process and what our appropriate efforts might be to help with that process. A customer’s problem-solving activity involves a five-step approach as follows:
1) Identify a goal and the barriers to that goal
2) Analyze the situation
3) Explore the options
4) Create an Action Plan
5) Monitor and follow-up the results
Given those five steps in which our customer is engaged as they move toward making their decision, we can “map” our efforts appropriately, providing the most value to our customer throughout the process. As our customer defines their goal and barriers, we can learn from their efforts and gain a perspective from their point of view. While our customer is analyzing their situation, we can explore their needs in terms of desired outcomes and problem resolutions. When customers begin to explore their options, we can assist them by outlining our capabilities in easily assessed terms of Features (what they are), Advantages (how they work) and Benefits (what they do for our customer). While customers set about creating an Action Plan, we can present a comprehensive solution that is both customer-centric and linked to their unique needs. Finally, as our customer monitors the implementation and follows up with the results, we can be most helpful with expanding the common ground of understanding, all the while growing our relationship and surfacing future potential for all.
An added bonus of this method allows us to provide our leadership with a much more accurate picture of our position and potential through identifying where our customer is in their problem-solving process as opposed to what we are doing to “sell” a solution. Not only does our projections become more accurate, it is consistent with our focus upon our customer and our intent to help them make good buying decisions. Then we can assure ourselves that our perceived motion reflects not that of the deceptively-moving rocking horse, but rather the forward speed of a thoroughbred race horse.
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