Apr 08 2007
Are Your Customers Out Of Focus?
The one term that sets top performers apart is customer focus.
Outstanding sales results depend on the ability to think from the customer’s point of view and understanding the customer’s agenda, buying cycle and best interests.
Beyond a superficial reading of immediate customer needs, the very best salespeople work to gain a deeper understanding of both the buyer’s long-term goals and the overall business climate.
At the heart of customer focus is the art of listening constructively – top achievers are masters at capturing information and they also understand that customer focus means taking the customer seriously – believe me, to-day, the salesperson who clings to the product orientation of a decade ago is losing ground.
As client companies branch into new markets and unfamiliar territories, they are demanding unique, flexible solutions from their vendors - customised to support specific goals.
Another myth which can be exploded is that whilst customers value flexibility, being too flexible can undermine the sales relationship. On the whole, salespeople imagine that customers value a vendor’s responsiveness above all. However there is ample research which proves that their primary concern is reliability.
In summary, in order to maintain customer focus the best salespeople become facilitators, creating a partnership that extends the selling relationship within the customer’s company. The motivation to achieve this should be strong - it costs five times as much to attract and sell to a new customer as it does to an existing one! Customer focus really does create competitive advantage.
At the time of writing this, according to the countdown clock on BlogTalkRadio there are just 193 hours and 34 minutes until it’s “showtime” – yep, “Top 10 Sales Articles” launches in a weeks time and you can see full details by clicking on that link: The excitement is mounting and it seems like everyone is talking about it.
My guest on the inaugural show will be the dynamic and highly successful Jill Konrath of “Selling To Big Companies”. Jill is someone I have admired for a long time and so as you can imagine, I am really looking forward to chatting with her live on air.
The Final Piece Of The Jigsaw: Whilst I prepared a very long list of potential advertisers - because this has to be self-funding - there was only one name on my potential sponsor list, only one company I really wanted to come on board: The Sales Activator® and I was almost bowled over by the enthusiasm and excitement of its creator, Nikki Owen. Nikki is someone I have tremendous respect for and in her role as Managing Director of Trainique Ltd, she has demonstrated that she is not only a remarkable person, but also an extremely astute businesswoman.
Incidentally, Nikki has just returned from a “firewalking” experience and you can read all about it here: www.salesactivator.com/blog
So, as a final reminder April 15th , is the big day, although the site; www.top10salesarticles.com will be live from Monday April 9th
Finally, two new articles for you: “Why Buyers Resist And Object” is featured on my personal site; jonathanfarrington.com and here is a brief extract:
“To handle resistance to your ideas and influence, you will first need to pinpoint exactly why there is an objection. Typically, people object or resist because they….” Continue reading
Whilst on Group site: thejfagroup.com I have posted: “Major Account Management – The jfa Model”
“In this third part of this four part series, we look at the jfa Major Account Management Model There are four parts to the model. Each part influences and is influenced by the other parts” Continue reading
And finally, finally, one of my adjudication panel colleagues Andrea Nierenberg, has an excellent post on her blog this week: “Spring Cleaning For Your Ears” and you can read it here: thenierenblog.typepad.com/
As ever, have a great week! JF
As I read your post and saw your comments on listening, I couldn’t agree with you more. I can’t tell you how many times I see sales reps that do everything right, but forget to listen. In the end, they curse the prospects for being “out of tune” with the sales process.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a tidbit on the subject. (http://sales-stories.blogspot.com/2007/03/do-you-really-understand.html) Hope it adds to the dialogue.
Thanks for the info.
Chris
(www.primary-intel.com)
The volume of sales information that is ‘out there’ on the web could compete with the Atlantic Ocean for it’s overwhelming scale. Yet, we all recognize that knowledge is power and we can learn a great deal from what others have successfully achieved.
As a sales professional I recently calculated that if I add up the time I’ve invested in reading sales books, listening to audio tapes and attending sales seminars and courses, this ‘time investment’ equates to nearly 2 years!!!! This could be perceived as impressive except that only a couple of weeks of this time produced an impact, strong enough to make a huge difference to my sales results.
That’s why, when I was asked if The Sales Activator® would like to sponsor Top 10 Sales Articles, I jumped at the opportunity to cascade the best sales suggestions and insights to sales professionals everywhere.
This is a HUGE breakthrough for anyone involved in sales and I urge you to watch this space for more info!
Good Luck to Jonathan and his incredibly impressive team of global sales experts.
Nikki Owen
Chris,
Yes, spot on! I read and enjoyed your article - excellent.
Hopefully, you managed to read Andrea’s excellent posting?
Thank you.
Jonathan
Nikki,
Thank you - with your backing, we know this is going to be a huge success, your enthusiasm and excitement are so evident.
Jonathan
Jonathan,
I very much enjoyed your post.
As a professional salesperson, I couldn’t agree more with your statements concerning the importance of customer focus and reliablility! From the point of view of our customers, they really want little else. Well done.
Best regards,
Daniel Sitter