Great sales start with even greater detailed meticulous planning.  All the homework, research, and effort you put into your pre-call sales plan will lead to great conversations and even larger sales.  The proof of this is in your own experiences and in the habits of the highly successful salespeople in your company.

Putting in the effort to plan for your sales call removes the risk of error, nasty surprises, and wasting of time.  The more you prepare, the easier the sales call is.  In fact it is so easy it is like having a great conversation!

Doctor, bare with me.  You and I are going to be looking at this presentation for the very first time. – Anonymous Salesperson

Failure To Plan Is A Plan To Failure

Yet most salespeople do not do anything in regards to pre-call sales planning.  (Looking up information in your computer before you walk in to a call does not count as pre-call sales planning.  It is more like cramming for a test.)  The excuses as to why not are as numerous as the stars in the sky.  You have:

• I know all there is to know about my customer.  I have been calling on them for years!
• I have so much to do that there is no time!  Besides, I have practiced my presentation numerous times.
• The data is old, wrong, and not applicable to my customer.
• A personal favorite… Hmmm, let me think about it and I’ll look up some information after the call.

Do any of these sounds familiar?  Have you said them yourself before?

You know when a call goes bad because you did not plan at all for it.  Questions sound awkward.  The customer is politely listening but you can see in their eyes they feel sorry for you or even begging that you end the torture.  What was once an hour appointment is done in ten minutes.  You never even get the chance to ask for the business and if you do it is completely inappropriate.

The sales call is so bad, so horrible, that you even consider becoming a hermit.  If you do not have that insight and you cannot understand why you are not making sales… well, what does your pre-call sales plan look like?

Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous. – Mark Caine.

9 Steps To Pre-Call Planning

1. Review all the sales notes, previous contracts, previous buying habits, and other information on the customer you are going to call on.
   • If it is a brand new prospect – review who their vendors are, buying habits for same priced items, and how they win business.
2. Review the image of the company you are going to visit by looking at their website, facebook, twitter, blog, and any other information you can find on the internet.
3. If the company is public review their annual report.  This will help you see how profitable they are, what their vision is for the future, and if they have announced any major plans that will effect your business.
   • If you know other vendors that work with your client/customer talk to them.  Find out about payments, length of contract negotiations, and who they turn to in times of trouble.
4. Google who you are meeting with and where.  If they are on LinkedIn, see how removed you are from them and if you can get connected.
5. Compile the information from your research and look for gaps in information.
   • You will turn these gaps into “areas of interest.”
   • Create a hypothesis as to why these gaps in information exist.
6. Write open-ended questions that will test your hypothesis and help you fill in the information gaps.
7. Visualize the sales call:
   • How do you expect it to go?
   • What will you do if you are cut short?
   • What will you do if you are given more time?
   • Where do you expect the customer give you objections?
   • When do you want to close the sale?
8. Create anticipated objections from the information you have gathered.
9. Practice your sales presentation with your questions in front of the mirror, your friends/family, and in the car.

A lot of my time was spent searching, thinking and planning my life. – Ryan White

Time Invested = Big Money

Pre-call sales planning is a time consuming process that reaps huge rewards.  You are likely to spend more time on the pre-call plan than you are on the actual sales call.  That is okay.  It means that you are digging deep to understand more about the needs of your customer.  It means that you are preparing to enter into a deep conversation that will be enlightening and have an impact.

What most salespeople do not like is the fact that proper pre-call sales planning takes time away from other things, like watching TV.  Yes, you have been called out.  The dirty little secret is that you, the salesperson, get paid the big bucks because you do not punch in/out on a set schedule.  Sales can occur at anytime.  Therefore you have to use your downtime to plan, practice, and prepare for success.

Will you use everything that you have planned for?  Most likely not, but you will be prepared.  That preparation equals confidence, which equals being ready for anything.  Having that feeling you will walk into any presentation, sales call, or meeting looking taller, stronger, and calmer than the other people in the room.  Your confidence will rub off on everyone else.   You will feel as ready as ever to take on the world.

The great conversation – the magic – that happens from investing your time into pre-call sales planning will result in larger sales.

How do you plan for sales success? What are some examples of pre-call sales planning failures?

When it comes to sales questions are amazing wonderful tools.  Sadly when it comes to all the practicing, pre-call planning, and preparation that sales professionals do it seems that questions fall by the wayside.  Which is too bad because questions make for great conversations and help the participants of the sales call find winning solutions.

Great questions provoke thought.  They make the listener stop and think.  Great questions elicit honest and at times emotional responses.  Great questions help you, the salesperson, reach a deeper understanding of your client.  In return you will gain a respect most salespeople could only dream of through your desire to learn more.

Did you or did you not order the ‘code red?!?’ – Lieutenant Kaffee from A Few Good Men

What Do You Want To Know?

Even a street vendor knows to ask great questions.

First reason why most salespeople do not ask insightful questions is because they do no know what it is that they want to know.  In not knowing they ask fluff questions or the like to “move the conversation along” without giving a thought to their customer.  This is akin to being forced to watch a torturous PowerPoint presentation (as if there is any other kind.)  Their customers’ thoughts, feelings, and interests are secondary to the sales presentation.

It is easy to recognize such poor questions because they sound awkward, mistimed, and forced.

In order to begin to have great questions you have to hypothesize about your customer.  Yes, you are making assumptions but you not going to act on them.  Instead you are going to formulate questions that test your assumptions and either confirm or refute your hypothesis.

You have to know what it is that you wish to understand about your customer.  Then ask it – directly to your customer.  It is always amazing how many salespeople ask questions that are vague and/or require the customer to answer a series of them.   The only result is to make the salesperson look foolish and frustrate the customer.

Successful stellar salespeople do all the necessary preparation to identify what it is they specifically want to know.  They write questions that are clear and direct that will elicit an answer.  They use the answers they receive to provide valuable clear information that will help their customer buy.

All nonsense questions are unanswerable. – C. S. Lewis

5 Steps To Create Great Questions

• Write down what you want to know. During your pre-call planning, as you sift through all your information, write down what you want to know about your customers actions, buying habits, business needs, and desires.
• Come up with a hypothesis to your customer’s actions.
• Write open-ended questions (those that start with Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How) that will give you answers to what you want to know and test your hypothesis.
• Practice asking your questions out loud, if they sound awkward to you and others then you need to revise them.
• Keep a record of the questions you ask that elicit deep responses. Use this record to build better questions and follow-up questions.

Successful people ask better questions, and as result, they get better answers. – Tony Robbins

Never Fear The Answers

Another reason why most salespeople do not ask great questions (or even ask them at all) is that they fear the answer.  That fear goes beyond hearing “No” and enters the realm of losing control of the sales call.  Fear that they will not be able to respond to whatever answer the customer comes back with.  Fear that they will not be of value at all.

That is true test of sales!  Great salespeople never fear the answers.  The love them, embrace them, and recognize that the answers – while possibly taking a sales call to the edge – give the salesperson the information necessary to help the customer.   The answers help turn the sales call into a great conversation and build a foundation of trust in the business relationship.

Never fear the answers because in them you will find valuable feedback that will make your products/services better.  You will learn how your competition is positioning against you.  You will learn novel uses of your products.  You will learn the truth about your customers.

What are some the best questions you have heard or used?

I was once told that when a customer gives you an objection that the selling really begins.  The theory being that there is interest by the customer but they need a reason to buy.  Their objections are there for you to help them justify buying.

Well, I object!

Sorry to cut your head off with that answer.

When a customer asks a question, it is just that… a question.  Sadly many salespeople see it as means to dig deeper and present harder.  You see they have been trained to do a number of steps to overcome the objection and win the sale.  Instead they simply talk past the customer – the one politely listening and nodding – that wishes the torture would just end.  Most times, the sale is never made and another customer is annoyed.

Doubt me?  Be the customer and go engage in a sales conversation.  Ask a question and watch how the salesperson goes through their steps.  You will be amazed about how they never really answer your question.  That is because they are overcoming an objection.

If you are in sales, do you do the same thing?

The way you see people is the way you treat them. – Zig Ziglar

Does It Come In Blue?

So how do you overcome the sales trap of overcoming the “objection”?  Easy, recognize that a question is just a question.  That is a question is a tool used to learn more, to become better informed, and to weigh the pros/cons of a decision.  If you believe a great sales call is a stellar conversation, then you know that questions are an integral part of great conversations.

Imagine you are at a car dealership looking at a brand new car.  You are listening to the salesperson present all the features that this car has.  You ask a question, “Does it come in blue?”  Which answer would you prefer?

A)   Yes it does! We’ve got one on the lot right now, would you like to test drive it?

B)   How do you feel about the color blue?

C)   Yes.

D)   We’ve got over ten different colors to choose from; blue is one of them.

Is this your sales process?

If you are a standard salesperson than three of those answers will do.  Most of them answer the question as an objection and do not seek to find out more from you.  You might like blue, hate blue, or simply don’t care.  What you do care about – what 99.9% of all customers care about – is being listened to.  Therefore there is only one choice above that is correct.

To answer a customer’s question you first need to understand the thought process behind the question.  So by answering the question with a question you are demonstrating that you are listening and seeking to better understand the needs of your client.  You are using the tools of a great conversation.  The answer your client gives you will determine if it is just a question or some deeper need.

Remember, you only have to succeed the last time. – Brian Tracy

Sales Is Not A Process

Each sales call you have with a client is unique.  You cannot place a process upon it.  Sales calls do not follow an algorithm.  A sales call simply has a beginning, middle, and an end.  What happens in between is different from sales call to sales call.

When you treat sales as a process you might as well be telling your customers that you see it like an automatic phone system.  The ones that ask you to listen to options and make choices.  (Oddly those options are never what you need when you call.)  The same automatic phone systems that follow an algorithm designed to make it difficult for you to actually get in contact with a human being.  I have yet to meet a person who enjoys going through that torture.

If sales calls are not a process then the questions a customer gives you are not objections to be plugged into a flow chart, but a means to engage you, the salesperson, in a conversation.  Your job is to listen and seek to understand what information the customer needs to make an informed decision.  Heaven forbid, you might even have a conversation with your customer!

What are your thoughts on objections vs. questions?

I am guilty as the next person.  I get offended if I walk into a store and no one asks if they can help me.  Yet, if they do, I completely blow them off.  It is as if I am looking forward to telling them that I am “just looking”.  The reality is that I have been trained to respond to a specific set of “sales” behavior and when I don’t get it… well I am just offended by the poor customer service!

Yes I like bad openers.  We all do really because stores get graded poorly if the salesperson does not ask us the bare minimum, “Can I help you?”  That is right… you, me, the person on the train/plane/car lane next to you… we expect bad openers.

That has translated into most sales professionals having contrived uninteresting boorish presentation starters.  These range from the “How would you feel if I told you that you could ____________?” to “Hi, I am here to _____________ about ____________.”  (If this were a Madlibs you could have a great time filling in those blanks!)  None of them reach out and grab your attention.  I believe it comes from two things:

1.)  Fear of being told that the client is “just looking.”

2.)  Some internal desire to transfer the torture of practicing a sales pitch over and over without regards as to who will actually hear it.  (Imagine if you will a salesperson saying to himself, I don’t care how I get into the sales presentation! As long as I do, I am a success!

You do not want to be like this, you want to be different.

Somebody is boring me.  I think it is me. – Dylan Thomas

One Chance To Get It Right

Successful sales people do not just have a presentation, a canned opener, and stock questions.  No, they train themselves to have detailed intense (some could say almost intimate) conversations with their customers.  They start by having an opener that will spark that conversation, realizing that each conversation is a different event and each customer is unique.  How you get to that level is through belief and practice.

To build special insightful conversations that will make your clients want to buy from you, refer to you, and rely upon you then you must make these fundamentals core to your salesmanship:

Belief….

• You must believe that each customer is unique and different.
• You must believe that each contact with a customer can educate you and them.
• You must believe that the interaction you will have may be life altering.
• You must believe that no one can help them like you.

Practice…

• Asking open-ended questions that keep a conversation alive.
• Practice different ways to open a conversation with a complete stranger.
• Smiling.
• Listening.
• Talking professionally for measured impact.

Leave no interaction to chance.

That last part implies that you have only one chance to get it right.  Just like your first impression, not matter what you do afterwards it leaves a lasting mark.  So too should you approach each sales call as if it is the one opportunity to get it right.  When think of a sales conversation as such, you will remove as much randomness as possible.

Stellar salespeople believe in themselves and their clients.  Stellar salespeople practice earnestly with creativity so that their interspersing of product information is natural and not forced.  Stellar salespeople do all the necessary preparation to make sure that chance is removed from the equation.   All of this translates into stellar salespeople having openers that don’t sound like openers, instead they sound like the beginning of a beautiful conversation.

You can be that way too, if you desire.

Salesmanship is an art; the perfection of its technique requires study and practice. – J. C. Penney

What are some of the worst openers you have experienced?

You ever have a great conversation that changes the way you view things?  You know, the type of conversation that makes you use everything you’ve learned, makes you take a stand, and leaves you feeling refreshed.  Ever have one of those?

Did you know that you could have one of those conversations when it comes to your business?

Yes you can.

Engrossed in conversation

It begins with you believing that every sales call is an opportunity to have a conversation with your customer/client.  You must believe that this sales call will challenge they way you think and provide you with an opportunity to educate the other participant(s).   In order to have a successful conversation you have to believe in yourself, your product/services, and in the best interest of your customer.

You have to believe.

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That’s why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet. – Truman Capote

Anatomy of A Great Conversation

Close your eyes.  Think back to any of the great conversations you have had in your life.   What components did they have in common?  How did you feel during them?

I bet as you look back through your conversations you will find that the common components were:

• Having time.
• Asking great challenging questions.
• Opening your personal filters to accept new opinions.
• Allowance for a natural flow – give and take.
• Listening.
• Trust.

Notice what is missing?  Intimate knowledge of the other participant who is part of the conversation.  Granted that most great conversations are with family members and/or friends, there are times when they are held with complete strangers.  When they are held with strangers the same components apply.

A conversation goes sometimes into personal things and that’s nicer. You look to each other and you have a different picture, you get into a relationship. – Maximilian Schell

Practice + Sales Call = Great Conversation

So how do you make a sales call into a great conversation?  Well you must have the same components!  To have those same components you have to practice!

You need to believe in what you are going to ask, say, and demonstrate.  They only way to get this belief is to practice.  Practice your sales call in front of a mirror, practice on your family, and practice on your friends/colleagues.  When you practice with others it should not be a “you speak, they listen” approach, instead it should be in the form of a conversation.  This will help you test your questions, respond to objections that might arise, and… practice listening.

Now, I am sure you a saying to yourself, “Hey! Aren’t conversations supposed to be natural and not staged?  What is up with all this practicing?”  The answer is yes, conversations should occur naturally.  The reason to practice is for you to know when and where you will introduce your product’s benefits for your client.  Through practice you will sound natural when you speak about your product information.

Practicing with your dog counts!

Some of the best comedians present their comedy in a conversational way instead of the old setup and punch line.  As you watch them it seems as if they are bringing up all that funny stuff from the top of their heads.  The secret as to why it comes of so natural… practice.

The same is true in discussing your products/services with your clients.  If you do not practice then you will come off as pushy.  You will not truly listen to your client; instead you will only be waiting for your turn to speak to pitch your product.  In comedy they call that crow barring in a joke.  In sales it is called being obnoxious.  The result is failure either way.

Through your practicing you will be confident in yourself, you will believe, and that will build trust, allow for a flow in the conversation, and help you deactivate your personal filters so that you are open to the needs of your customers.  When you do speak you will present your information naturally as if it is a part of your personal belief system.

A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. – Mark Twain

Applicable To Any Sales Call

Obviously there will be times when you cannot have a conversation because the other party is just not interested in having one.  You will find that to be the exception though as you will be actively engaging with customers that truly desire to be helped and want a conversation that provides it.

Your goal should be that every sales call is a great conversation no matter if it is in social media, in person, webinar, or over the phone.  It can be done through practice.

Let’s talk about the dirtiest word in business.  You know the word.  It is the most important word that means the lifeblood to any business.  The word is… sales.

Person To Person Sales In The Andes

Why is it dirty?  Without sales there can be no revenue, and without revenue there can be no cash to pay salaries and the bills.  Sales are the most important component of business and it is typically the connection a business has with its customers.  Yet… many people don’t want to be known as a salesperson.

Could it be the polyester suit cheesy smile say anything promise everything close close close personality that most people have about salespeople?  Or is it that people who don’t want to be known as a salesperson are afraid of being told “no”?  Is it beneath them to ask for business?

Whatever the reason is without sales a business does not exist.

“We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.” – Alexis de Tocqueville

How To Overcome Your Sales Fear

You are going to be different than most people.  Whether you work for a large corporation or you are in business for yourself, you are going to embrace sales!  You are going to excel at it!

Before you begin your embracement of the dirtiest word in business you need to know what sales is not.  Sales is not…

• Being pushy.
• Wearing polyester plaid suits.
• Cheesy smiles.
• Lying about what your product/services can do.
• Being the perfect “pitchman.”
• Always knowing everything.
• Always talking.

If you think that those traits are part of sales, then you have been sadly misinformed or abused by an annoying salesperson.  Now that you know what sales is not, let’s talk about what sales is…

• Listening.
• Asking questions to learn about needs and be better informed.
• Educating customers and clients about options.
• Searching for the right answers to client questions.
• Sincere smiles and thank you’s.
• Honesty and integrity.
• Practicing.

I am betting that you identify with the traits and characteristics of sales just mentioned.  If you do, then you are ready to be an ultimate salesperson.  The next step is for you need to get rid of your fear.

The fear I am talking about is being told “no.”  To avoid that most people adopt a different personality that is not them.  I call it the “Salesperson Secret Identity”.  Why is it a secret, because even their loved ones wouldn’t recognize them.  They come of as stiff, unbending, not listening and when the pressure hits… pushy.  This all comes from the fear of getting shot down.

Don’t be like that!

Conversing about product quality

Instead recognize that sales is a conversation.  At the end of that conversation you are asking the other participant(s) to do something.  Successful conversations have the traits of what makes a successful salesperson as listed above.

You have conversations everyday in your life.  You are asking others to do things for you and in return they are asking you to do things for them.  It is as natural as breathing.

So unless you have a fear of conversing with another person, then there should really be no reason to fear talking to another person about your product/services.  With that “no” is a natural part of any conversation.

Your fear… easily laid to rest.

“Everyone lives by selling something.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Okay, Not That Easy

Well, actually it really is.  Most things in life are simple.  We allow them to become complicated through our fear, procrastination, and ease to distraction.  By doing so we don’t see how simple it is.

This month the Finding Answers Blog is going to help your remove the barriers, distractions, and fears to help you in sales.

So will you do me a favor and give some of the solutions here a try?

In the past sales used to be about interrupting and pushing your product or services. In recent years sales has taken a more “customer centric or customer focused” approach. All about the customer and how they feel and what they want and how you can help them. Or is it?

I mean you’re in sales right? You are supposed to really care about your customer, right?

Street Vendors

Ask yourself one important question before your next sales call, “Am I’m really concerned about what my customers thinks?” Now I know it sounds quite insulting that I am implying that you really don’t care about your customer. I mean you’re in sales right? You are supposed to really care about your customer, right? You are supposed to really want to understand their feelings, their needs, and her desires, right?

The reality is that in execution you’re really focused on yourself.

Now you may have gone to some amazing sales training courses. You may have picked up some awesome books by such authors like Jeffrey Gitomer or Brian Tracy. Both are amazing sales trainers and accomplished authors.  (They both desire to see customers get the best service possible for their money.)   The goal of the books and the training is to get you the salesperson focused on the customer. The reality is that in execution you’re really focused on yourself.

In reality you were only listing to find the opportunity to speak to get your point across.

When you are in that sales call with your customer you are focused on every word they are saying. You are listening to them as they espouse whatever believes, concerns, or needs they have. You are waiting for them to give you that opening you have been seeking to deliver the message that you have about your products or services. Following all the training you have about being customer centric you gave them their time and now it is your turn. It is in their silence that you have your opportunity to speak and persuade them to purchase from you.

After the call you climb back into your car you congratulate yourself on being focused on the customer. In reality you were only listing to find the opportunity to speak to get your point across. That’s not being customer focused or even being centered around the customer. In some cases that is not even being polite.

You could think of these training programs as breeding little vampires that will entrance their customers and then suck them dry.

Customer Focused Sit Down

To be customer centric or to be focused on your customer you have to know them  better than they know themselves. The best salesperson that can execute this type of selling model is someone who honestly cares about their customer. They care about the customer staying in business, being profitable, and being a success. In this case the salesperson could almost be considered like a coach or a advisor that is unique in helping a customer achieve his or her goals. The salesperson understands that at times their products and services are not in the best interests of their customers. Conversely they also understand that their products and services are the only solution to make their customer successful. The salesperson can do this because they know their customer very very well.

• How well do they know the customer? Well, here are a few points below that you can measure yourself against:

• The customer centric salesperson will know how their customer was educated and how the education influences their decision making.

• The salesperson knows that the customer is one personality at work, one personality at play, and completely different personality when under stress.

• The salesperson knows who, what, when, how, and why their customer is influenced by other people around them.

• The customer focused sales person could explain to you in great detail the desires, hopes, and goals of each of their customers.

• The salesperson has ingratiated themselves to the point that they are almost a member full-time of their customers staff.

When you look at the above bullet points be honest with yourself and ask, “Do I meet the criteria above?” It is okay if you do not right away. It takes time and energy to become truly customer focused.

Customer Focused

All the training you have done so far around being customer centric or focused has really been about how you can leverage information for your own personal gain. When you look at it like that, you are not really focused on the customer at all; your only focused on yourself. You could think of these training programs as breeding little vampires that will entrance their customers and then suck them dry.

So how can you be different?

• First, really listen to your customer. Even if you burn a sales call without pitching a product you can learn more in those 10 to 30 minutes that you could in a product conversation that lasts hours.

• Second, remember why you are there in the cells called the first place. The customer and you both know you are there for business. Make it about business, but have your radar and your receivers tuned into everything else surrounding business.  When you leave the sales call, your post call notes should be about everything you talked about, witnessed, and observed. Everything.

• Third, be yourself. This is sometimes the hardest thing some salespeople can do. With so many profiling, personality surveys, and marketing data given to a salesperson it is easy to believe you have to be all things to all people. When the reality is you are nothing to no one. So be yourself and recognize that you’re not going to get along with all your customers and that is okay.

• Fourth, find ways big or small to celebrate every success your customer has.  The more you take interests in their goals and wishes the more likely your customer will be interested in yours. It is so funny how that golden rule seems to apply to everything in business.

• Fifth, and finally, be willing to tell your customer no. This sounds odd, because we’ve always been taught that the customer is always right. Sometimes that can actually be in the worst interests of your customer. You’re better off letting your customer know, politely, that now is not the time for whatever they may feel they are entitled to. It’ll hurt. They’ll be upset. In the end they will thank you for your honesty and your willingness to stand up to them.

In conclusion, being customer centric is really about being a true friend, in the business sort of way, with your customer. It is about being honest with yourself, knowing your limits, and being empathetic with your customer.  Focusing on their goals, celebrating their successes, and helping them complete their wishes is really what being customer focused is all about.

So, are you customer focused?

About the author:

Erroin A. Martin is a Business Advocate with the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, a business coaching and consultancy provider for business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. He has fifteen years experience working within the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, natural resources, medical devices, software, technology, business services, and agriculture industries in various levels of leadership across six continents. He has led diverse teams in sales, marketing, planning, and in the Army.  He currently coaches business leaders and physicians in the tools needed to plan for their success. Learn more about the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC at www.vongehrconsulting.com or call +1 203 433 8079.  You can follow him on Twitter at @Erroin

The Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, was founded by Erroin A. Martin to provide business coaching, business consulting, and other services to companies both large and small.  The primary goal is to have his clients be passionate about their business and reach the unachievable.

Before you start smirking and thinking that I have gone stupid, give me at least the next three sentences to bend your ear.  I am not talking about being mean to one customer and super nice to the other.  I am not saying that you should have extreme differences in how you service your customers.  Instead you should start treat them how they want to be treated.

…give me at least the next three sentences to bend your ear.

Going Over Market Research

Companies spend large amounts of cash to segment their markets and define who their ideal customers are.  When it comes to the execution of their marketing and sales plans all that research gets thrown out the window.  Customers that are treated to exactly the same messaging costs companies millions and more in lost sales.

Treating your customers the same can and will result in leaving money on the table.

Still think I am little off?

Run this little exercise.  Take a look at your top performing customers.  Then look at the other eighty percent that make up the rest of your customer base.  Have those customers responded to your latest marketing and sales efforts?  Have they made a move in buying just like your top performers?  (I will give you a hint: the answer is most likely no.)

Companies spend large amounts of cash to segment their markets… then throw all that out the window when it comes to execution.

Now look at the marketing and sales message that you are currently using.  Your top customers are responding to it.  The rest of your customer base is not.  The messaging you are running with is the same… FOR EVERYBODY! You are losing potential sales and new fans because of it.

Male executives will take a product launched to men and just “make it pink.”

If you still think I am wrong, look at the recent article in the Wall Street Journal, about a Boston Consulting Group survey of 15,000 women and 5,000 men across 22 countries.  This survey discovered that male executives make large mistakes by treating their female customers the same as their male customers.

Bartering Prices

One of the most obnoxious points: male executives will take a product launched to men and just “make it pink.”  The executives fail to address even the basic needs of this customer segment and treat the female shopper the same as the male shopper.  (There are nine other mistakes that are made when marketing to female customers mentioned in the article.)

What can you do to avoid these mistakes and not lose potential sales?

• If you are in marketing, test your message with the different customer segments.  Pay attention to what they like and dislike.  Be willing to market to them in how they want to be marketed to.
• If you are in sales, use your pre-call planning to make sure you fully understand your customer.  Do you know where they come from and how they got where they are today?  Can you detail all their biases? Do you know how they make their decisions? Those are just a few questions, but there are many more.  If you cannot answer those three… ask your customer to tell you and then listen!
• Speaking of listening… Listen. Listen. Listen.  Your customers are telling you how they want to be treated.  They tell you in person, in social media, and by where they use their ultimate voice: their currency to purchase from your competitors.  If you still cannot figure it out, ask them and listen.

Treating your customers the same can and will result in leaving money on the table.  Get to know them, understand them, and treat them they way they want to be treated.

Still think I am nuts? I look forward to your comments!

About the author:

Erroin A. Martin is a Business Advocate with the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, a business coaching and consultancy provider for business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. He has fifteen years experience working within the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, natural resources, medical devices, software, technology, business services, and agriculture industries in various levels of leadership across six continents. He has led diverse teams in sales, marketing, planning, and in the Army.  He currently coaches business leaders and physicians in the tools needed to plan for their success. Learn more about the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC at www.vongehrconsulting.com or call +1 203 433 8079.  You can follow him on Twitter at @Erroin

The Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, was founded by Erroin A. Martin to provide business coaching, business consulting, and other services to companies both large and small.  The primary goal is to have his clients be passionate about their business and reach the unachievable.

You have worked diligently in identifying who your ideal customer is.  You can picture exactly in your mind how they look, dress, eat, drive, and most importantly spend their money.  Yet do you know who influences their decisions?

Now I am sure you have noticed that I have not written what, but who?

It is the “Who” that has a tremendous amount of power over how your ideal customer purchases your product and/or services.  If you have not identified the “Who” for your ideal customer then here are three things you can do to start today:

1.  Ask Your Customer

How weird is that? Talking to your customer? Yet that is something that many businesses still do not do.  I have not quite figured out why that is.  Maybe it is because they fear the answer will be no or something else that is negative. The reality is your customer will tell you “Who” influences them.  A great example is when you ask for (close for) the business and they say,”I have to talk to my spouse.” or “I need to take this to the committee.”  Your ideal customer is telling you who has an influence over the decision.  Asking them ahead of time will let you in on that information.

Engage in an open conversation with your customers and tell them why you want to know who else is involved in the decision.  Remember that people love to talk about themselves.  Ask and listen.  You will be amazed what you will learn.

2.  Ask Your Competition

Look at your competition.  How are they marketing their products/services to your customers?  Who do they target their ads towards?  Are their ads directed towards children, spouses, or how they will win with their bosses?

Your competition maybe wrong, and they maybe right, either way your competition is a wealth of information.  You should never ignore them.

3.  Look At Their Community

They are many factors that go into this last part and you really need to do your homework.  One trap that can easily be sprung is the trap of assumptions.  One thing customers hate is when you make the assumption that they are not in control of their decisions.  Yet, the community where they live, work, network and shop has an influence on them.

If your ideal customer is a heavy user of social media sites like, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. You can see who their influencers are by participating in their conversation.  (Keep this mind, sometimes the influencers do not have the largest network.  This means their voice is not diluted.)  Twitter has many great third party tools that are free that can help your identify a users influencer like Klout.

What is key to all three of these secrets is listening and observing.  By doing this you will be able to learn much more than you could ever know.  With that information you can engage in meaningful value driving conversations with your customers that will result in higher sales.

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We have had the honor of having written a guest post for the pharmaceutical industry blog pharmaphorum.

Our post touches upon the changes currently being debated in the U.S. Legislature on Healthcare.  The changes will have a profound impact in how the industry sells its products.

Enjoy! and we look forward to reading your comments!

Pharmaphorum Post on US Pharmaceutical Sales