Thinking With Your Customer

For those of us who have been in the sales profession for many years (25 for me personally!) we know how hard it is to overcome the stigma of being a “salesman”... It's only been in recent years that we've actually been considered a respectable profession … and it will continue to be respectable based upon how we conduct ourselves and how we treat our business partners...our Customers.

It wasn't all that long ago when the consuming public simply saw our profession as a bunch of used car salesmen! We've begun to crack the shell of that stigma...and must continue to emerge from it as we make strides into a consultative sales approach to our consuming public.

Being able to think with your customer will change the way you do business forever. Put your product aside. Put your “sales pitch” aside...Start to think in terms what's best for your relationship with your Customer and you change the whole game. Become an extension of his business...and you become a resource he can't live without....develop a trusted relationship and all of the rewards will follow.

I recently had a call from a old customer who had just sold his business to his business partner and was launching a business again. Rebuilding from the ground up...After the typical exchange of pleasantries we started to dive into what the new company was going to do ….where it would fit into the market.... how he was going to reach out to his potential customers...and what would make the new company different. At no time during our conversation did we actually discuss my products and how he would benefit from selling them as part of his solution. Instead, our conversation was about the markets that he would target for his service oriented company and what he could bring to the table was different and unique and how he would make an impact in the market. Naturally, when he decided to split up his partnership and start anew....he had the dream of taking some of his existing customers with him, which has become the foundation of the new company. Bearing in mind a company is not built on one customer alone, we talked about what he saw as the vision of his company in the next few years, and what resources he would bring to bear to realize that dream. I offered a few anecdotes from other business partnerships I'd developed and offered several suggestions of people to reach out to and other resources that he could tap into.

After a twenty or so minute conversation we agreed that we'd catch up again in two weeks and I offered to put him in touch with some of the resources that we'd discussed. I did just that as soon as we hung up the phone. I contacted the resources that I said I would, I put them in touch with each other...and formed yet another bond with this long standing customer of mine. I have become his trusted adviser. His friend and his mentor. Together, we will build his business...and my products will be a part of the partnership.

Step back and take stock of the customers that you partnered with in the past....Where are they today? Are you still a part of the partnership? Did you develop trust and lend your expertise over the life of the relationship? Did you become a part of the DNA of your Customers' organization? Where you an integral part of the growth of the organization? Take stock in what went right and what went off course. Redirect what you can and carry the positive components forward. Take those skills along as the foundation of your next venture into your next Customer Partnership.