Tweet

The Mind of the Customer

Written by: Harry Hayden

Article Overview: Providers of key business or mission critical solutions must engage and connect with their customers on a higher level. A standard supplier relationship will simply not generate or sustain that vital degree of trust.

The Mind of the Customer

Providers of key business or mission critical solutions must engage and connect with their customers on a higher level. A standard supplier relationship will simply not generate or sustain that vital degree of trust.

To gain sufficient credibility and mindshare (not to mention business), they must get inside their customers’ minds to understand the bigger picture. The bond must be one of mutual respect and value contribution.

Picture if you will this typical face to face engagement between a supplier of business critical solutions and a prospective customer. Then consider the implications of what is at the forefront of each individual’s mind:

“This deal could make all the difference and get my sales manager off my back! Can’t wait to do my pitch - I need to close this guy down as quickly as I can. If needs be I can move on price - we’re too expensive anyway ..”

“I need a supplier to understand our specific situation and come up with a viable solution. I hope this guy isn’t going to start selling like the others - if he jumps into his pitch or offers discount, it will be a very short meeting ..“

If this engagement is to prove successful, one party is going to have to change their mindset and approach in order to understand things from the others point of view. This is pretty unlikely to be the prospective customer.

The client will care little about the salespersons’ vested interest and the salesperson must therefore move to understand theirs. It is only through this in-depth understanding that a winning proposition can be developed.

This does not mean kowtowing to the client, merely understanding where he is coming from and working to facilitate this appropriately into the sales strategy. A mutually beneficial outcome must remain the prime objective.

Successful salespeople leave their egos, targets, commission plans and personal challenges outside of every customer engagement. They retain total focus on winning good business by addressing customer’s needs.

Their objective is always to find the best “mutually beneficial” solution to the business challenge their customer faces. They must create a win / win situation or withdraw from what would likely prove to be bad business.

There is a time and a place for everything and premature pitching is the Achilles heel of too many salespeople. How can you possibly pitch a valid solution, before fully understanding the problem and all its dependencies?

Serious business people do not want “selling to”, they want “contributor suppliers” that really understand them and their requirements, providing constructive input and proposing relevant solutions to meet their needs.

The power of a well timed and considered pitch that takes the customers' big picture into account, whilst addressing the primary business issues should not be underestimated. It puts others in the shade to secure the business.

At this point you are not “selling” to the prospect but bringing specific answers to address their considered needs. This is far more effective than the scattergun of a premature pitch that could be perceived as desperate.

The concepts outlined may appear to be common sense. Yet the reality is that most key business solution providers find it impossible to achieve or sustain such an approach in the absence of suitable external guidance.

Related Articles
  A Marketing Myth
  The Role of Customer Service in Business Success
  Satisfactory Customer Service is No Longer Acceptable
  Asking Questions
  Are Nice Customers Ruining Your Business

Article Tags: credibility, egos, forefront, good business, key business, mindset, mission critical solutions, mutual respect, personal challenges, pitch, point of view, prospective customer, sales strategy, salespeople, salesperson, supplier relationship, targets, vested interest, viable solution



Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
My reading log - Hi OmnivoreInk, Before starting my business, I read the following books as research: -"The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki -"The AdSense Code" by Joel Comm -"Don't Think Pink" and "Mind Your X's and Y's" by Lisa Johnson And since then I've continued my "research" by reading (in this order): -"Technical Tennis" by Rod Cross -"For One More Day" by Mitch Albom -"The Twits" by Roald Dahl -"Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne -"The Profitable Retailer" by Doug Fleener -"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell -"Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis -"Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling And I'm currently reading and am in the process of finishing the following: -"There's No Such Thing as Public Speaking" by Jeanette and Roy Henderson -"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell -"The Book of Tells" by Peter Collett -"Little Red Book of Sales Answers" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience" by Jonathan M. Tisch -"The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron -"The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey
Re: New McDonalds McCafe concept... - When it comes to Japanese service and quality control, I tend to take it for granted... until I return to Britain! Mind you, when it comes to cafes... You can't beat a good old British tea shop!
Big Button! - Hey Evan, there's a big button bottom right! Mind you, it's always interesting when people miss what might seem obvious to others - how many others might be in the same boat? So it's always great value to consider all feedback! Personally, I liked the button, yet perhaps it could be a bit brighter maybe...
Re: Paypal process $315 million in payments per day. - I agree with you David, their Customer relations suck. This mean other payment systems like 2CO and WORLDPAY should work on their customers relations to take more slice of the market.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself

SEO Gurus, Software and Ebooks

Emotional Energy is Our Engine

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.