We find our customers at what I like to call point ‘A.’ It’s a current state. They probably have all kinds of needs, whether or not they recognize them as such. But what we are looking for is what I call a disparity. It might be a need, problem, pain, obstacle, or it might be an opportunity of some kind that they have not yet recognized or taken advantage of. It could be seen as a ‘gap’ between where they are now and where they would like to be, and it might take us coming along and letting them know that there is a better place to be before they can envision it. We are looking for a customer who already has, or will let us help them to create, a vision of a desired future state that is better than the current state they are in now. I like to refer to this desired future state as point ‘C.’
We should do all we can to understand point ‘A’ (the customer’s current state), by asking key questions to learn . . .
- Are they happy with the way things are going right now?
- Do they recognize any needs that they feel must be addressed?
- Is there a disparity between where they are now and where they would really like to be?
We need to understand the circumstances surrounding point ‘A’ because they can give us valuable information and ideas about how our customer got to that point and what they might be able to do to get away from it. But we should spend just as much, if not more, of our time and effort trying to gain a better understanding of point ‘C,’ where their need is fulfilled and the disparity or the ‘gap’ no longer exists. It is ‘C,’ after all, that they want. This is a vital distinction. Identifying and pointing out needs or deficiencies is easy, but helping our customer think about and vividly imagine what their world might be like at point ‘C’ is how we move from demand fulfillment to demand creation.
If we’ve done our research up front, we can craft a few key questions that help lead our customers to arrive at our conclusions. If, for example, you sell market research and analytic services, which help companies make smarter decisions about entering new markets-as does one of my best clients-you might pose a question like this:
‘I read in your Annual Report that you are planning to expand into several new international markets over the next couple of years. If everything goes as planned, how many different countries will you be in by the end of next year?’
This information will help us to understand where they are going and how aggressively they are planning to expand. If we want to learn more about their specific plans and lead them even closer to our conclusion, we can follow up with a question like this:
‘How will you decide which markets offer the best upside revenue potential, with the least capital investment, or the least downside risk in terms of market acceptance?’
Another excellent line of questioning that can help us better under- stand our customer’s desired point ‘C’ is to ask what I call a ‘prioritizing question.’ Here’s an example:
‘Your last 10-K report mentioned three major competitive threats as you see them:
- Globalization: Giving some of your overseas competitors an edge because they are able to operate at a lower overall cost basis than you are.
- Commoditization: Resulting from so many players offering nearly identical products at lower and lower prices.
- The Rate of Technological Advancement: Rendering any new product you bring to market obsolete in 90 to 120 days.
Which of these do you consider the most worrisome?’
A question like this should always be followed by three more crucial questions:
- ‘Why do you think that?’
- ‘How do you plan to respond to that threat?’
- ‘What would be the ideal outcome if everything went as planned?’
Your customer has plenty of plans and initiatives they are already committed to pursuing. They’ve already got plenty of goals and objectives, and plenty of problems that are standing in their way. We just need to learn what those plans and goals are.
If your customer is more focused on solving a particular problem than achieving a specific goal, we could ask:
- ‘What is the highest level objective you are trying to accomplish?’
- ‘What is the desired result you are trying to achieve?’
- ‘What do you see as the most valuable outcome of solving this problem?’
Once we get a good understanding of what ‘C’ looks like to our customer, then and only then can we properly position our products and services at point ‘B,’ as the mechanism or the vehicle that takes them from ‘A’ to ‘C’ .
I want to emphasize that our ‘B’ only has relevance as it pertains to enabling our customers to arrive at ‘C.’ Because the honest truth is . . .
There is no value to our customers in our product or service solutions, but only in their desired outcomes or results.
This model reinforces a change in the way many of us think about selling. This is not the traditional selling of products and services, features and benefits, or even solutions to problems. What we are talking about selling here are results . . . results that contribute real value to our customer’s business or to their personal lives. I have heard it said that customers don’t buy what they need; they buy what they want. What this ‘Customer Results Model’ illuminates is that . . .
Customers buy what they need so they can get what they want. They don’t want a solution; what they want are results.
I like to ask my workshop participants, ‘Can your prospect tell whether you are focused more on ‘B’ (the things you sell) than ‘C’ (their business goals)?’ Everybody seems to agree that customers can tell quite easily. ‘How is it possible that they can tell?’ I ask. The answer is ‘By the things we say and do and especially by the questions that we ask.’
In a complex buying decision, which carries a substantial degree of inherent risk, customers almost always buy from the seller who . . .
- Best understands their ideal point ‘C.’
- Provides the simplest and most reliable plan to help them get from ‘A’ to ‘C.’
- Makes them feel most confident about reaching ‘C’ on time and on budget.
. . . not necessarily the vendor who offers the lowest price.
I am always willing to pay a little more to buy from someone who takes the time to understand what I am trying to accomplish, helps me evaluate my options, and then helps me select the right solution. You’re probably the same way. Most of your customers are too.