Be honest with yourself here; think about the last sales call you made and ask yourself 'did I appreciate the customer's pain?' Looking at things from a customer's perspective can offer real insight into whether your product fits and potentially, what you may need to ultimately do to make sure it does.
The reason why people get so angry at cold calling is because the level of understanding is completely one sided. You've come into the call knowing nothing about that person, or what they want out of the conversation (if they want anything at all!) This usually results in the caller bombarding their prospect with endless rambling about how good their product is, to cover the fact they know nothing about the need.
A personal example recently, away from a business environment, and a friend in a pub spent a good 20 minutes talking about how good the new Will Ferrell film 'The Other Guys' was to another guy at the table. He was full of praise and quotes and recommendations only for the guy listening to say 'I don't really like Will Ferrell.' A complete waste of every body's 20 minutes right there!
Track your customers. Keep up to date with what is happening with them, what they are struggling with, what they are excelling at. A personal touch; the ability to talk knowledgeably about the talking points in their business is almost as valuable as your actual product itself. Knowing what you're dealing with really is half the battle. If you're not understanding the customer's pain, you're risking a very one sided, very disappointing sales call.
0 comments:
Post a Comment