Imagine this … one of your customers is speaking with a friend, and suddenly notices that the friend should also be your customer. After witnessing this opportunity, what does he do? Recommend you, or let the opportunity pass by?
Please share your comments … are your customers witnesses for you? Do you ever serve as a witness for others, noticing business opportunities for them?
Which organization is likely to go out of its way for customers, a for-profit business in a very competitive marketplace, or a government bureaucracy charged with catching bad guys?
It depends.
It depends on the individual employees who are interacting with customers. It’s about the people, not the institution.
Read a story in today’s newsletter that shows how close enough for government work can sometimes be closer than you might think … as long as an individual person takes the initiative to look out for the customer.
Do you ever have trouble transitioning a conversation into a sales conversation? Steve’s latest newsletter encourages you to practice “The Gentle Turn” when talking with prospective clients.
Steve has a very interesting newsletter today about What businesses can learn from non-profits. His list of six takeaways include defining results as “What’s at stake,” and striving for win-win situations with customers and partners. Yastrow & Company has worked extensively with non-profits, so it’s exciting to bring some of our insights to our readers.
So what do you think? Has your business learned anything from the non-profit world? If you are with a non-profit, what else do you think the business world can learn from you?
This solution is part empathy and part smart selling – if we want our customers to listen to us, we must first listen to them and learn what they care about. We know this as a general rule, but how many of us earn the right to be heard each and every time we talk with a customer or prospect?
Steve’s newsletter today, Sales Pitch? Sales Conversation, is a call-to-arms for real, human selling. Replace your sales pitches with sales conversations, and you will be a more successful salesperson (even if you don’t think you can sell).
Steve writes, “Any time you are giving a sales pitch, you will be better off with a sales conversation. Anytime. No exceptions.”
Imagine you are in a conversation with a customer, and there is something you really want to say, but you can’t find a way to fit it in the conversation.
What should you do?
Change the subject so you can say it?
Raise your hand to get your customer’s attention?
Write it on your palm so you don’t forget it?
My answer: Leave it in your pocket. Don’t say it, because your customer won’t hear it anyway.
I recently ran a sales workshop for lawyers from a successful Chicago firm. One of the attorneys said, “I have a hard time explaining what I do. It’s pretty technical, and by the time I finish describing it I’ve usually confused the person.”
In response, a more senior lawyer, who also happens to be one of the biggest ‘rainmakers’ at the firm, said, “If someone asks me what I do, I just say that I’m a lawyer. I don’t offer any details. Then, they usually ask me to tell them more. At that point, they’re interested, so I can give them some more information.”
The Second City Almanac of Improvisation says “the more you tell the audience, the less they can imagine.” (page 160) This is a wonderful maxim for sales and marketing. Brochures stuffed with copy, hour-long fact-filled presentations, massive PowerPoint decks … they’re all based on the idea that the job of sales and marketing is to explain a story to customers.
But explaining a story is usually not best the best way to communicate that story. In order to communicate successfully, it is important for the customer to become engaged in the story, and a monologue won’t engage her. A dialogue in which she participates has a much better chance of engaging her and creating successful communication.
Resist the temptation to explain. Remember that your customer isn’t all that interested in your story, and so a detailed explanation is likely to lose her attention. Make it easy for her to participate in the conversation.
View your sales and marketing interactions not as opportunities to explain your story but as opportunities to engage your customers deeper. Don’t over explain … and give your customers a chance to imagine.
"When Steve Yastrow writes, I pay close attention" - Tom Peters
"I had to buy two copies. The first one is so dog-eared and underlined I couldn't read it any longer." - Seth Godin
Steve is the author of Brand Harmony and the newly published We:
The Ideal Customer Relationship. Learn more and order direct from our Products
page, or from Amazon.
In addition to writing, I spend most of my work time helping companies unleash their potential by creating better connections with their customers. This happens through my speaking events and through Yastrow & Company consulting engagements, where my team and I help companies figure out who they intend to be in the future, and then engage the entire company in creating that future through strong "We" customer relationships.
Before starting Yastrow & Company in the mid-90s I was vice-president of resort marketing for Hyatt Hotels. My experiences in the hotel business showed me clearly that most marketing doesn’t happen in the marketing department. Customers are paying attention to all interactions with a company, not just the promises made in traditional "marketing communications."
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