Once we have this knowledge we can position our solutions as the means to help them accomplish the goals and objectives they already have, because . . .
It’s a lot easier to sell somebody something if it’s positioned as a way to help them achieve a goal or an objective that they already want to achieve.
We should certainly talk to our customers about new ways of doing business and new approaches that they could use to make their business even more profitable and more efficient in the future. But let’s not overlook what they are trying to accomplish now-what they’ve got the time and money to act on right now-and help them accomplish those things. We should remember . . .
There will always be more business opportunities to invest in than there are time, money, and resources to invest in them.
Our customers can’t act on every good idea they have or that we as vendors present them with. They have to pick and choose. That picking and choosing can be quite complicated. Short-term goals, like containing costs by freezing wages, are often in conflict with long-term goals, like increasing morale and employee retention. Most companies have hundreds of great ideas and projects that are never acted on because they invest their resources in others they think are better or demand more urgent attention.
Corporate managers develop a list of goals and objectives through a process of valuation and prioritization, either formal or informal. Factors that influence prioritization could include:
- Return on investment of money, time, and other resources.
- Availability of those same resources.
- Competitive threats.
- Market opportunities.
- Stated objectives or promises to various stakeholders.
- Alignment with company values and mission.
- The personal or professional agenda of any particular person involved in the prioritization process.
Whatever their process, business managers end up with a list of prioritized goals and objectives for their business unit, department, or for the company as a whole. There may be hundreds of projects that all make the first cut and are deemed viable by certain standards, but companies seldom have the resources to fund them all.
A line has to be drawn, above which are projects that can be staffed and funded and below which are others that cannot. If economic conditions tighten or revenue and profit lag behind projected forecasts, the line has to be moved up. Just because money is budgeted in August for an investment the following May doesn’t necessarily mean your customer will actually have the money in their bank account when May comes around.
In order to maximize the likelihood of our success, we need to do one of two things. We have to make sure that the project-which the purchase of our products and services is part of-ends up above that line. Or we have to position our products and services solutions to support the execution of one of the goals or objectives that is already ‘above the line.’
Notice, ‘Information systems integration’ is quite low on the list. It’s not only ‘below the line.’ It even ranks lower than ‘New furniture for the lobby and front offices.’ If we happen to be in the systems integration business, we could be in trouble, that is if we continue to sell what we do as ‘systems integration.’
What we should do is start positioning our ability to integrate systems as a way to help our customer’s design experts to better collaborate with their manufacturing experts. In this way, they can cut product development time and ensure that they achieve their number one priority, which is to ‘Launch new product line by March 1.’ The same solution will contribute to number seven on the list, which is to ‘Shorten product development cycles to seventy-five days.’
We could also position our systems integration services as a way for our customer to electronically communicate with their customer’s inventory systems. This would enable them to dramatically improve the accuracy of their forecasts and production plans, resulting in the achievement of goal number four, which is to ‘Improve customer satisfaction rating to 94 percent.’ The more we can tie the capabilities of our solutions to our customer’s highest-level business objectives, the more likely it is they will be able and willing to acquire them.
When money is tight, we see a lot of company managers practicing what I like to call ‘corporate triage.’ They really only treat the life- threatening wounds, and they let a lot of the little ailments go untreated. In an effort to contain or reduce costs, scheduled upgrades in equipment are often postponed, as long as it doesn’t interrupt business operations. Likewise, new market opportunities might have to be passed up because of a lack of sales or marketing resources. A certain manufacturing problem, even one that is costing the company money, may go unaddressed if there are eight bigger problems that are costing even more.
When it comes to allocating resources and prioritizing which projects to invest in, we should remember that business managers are faced with a difficult decision . . .
The question is not whether any particular investment is good or bad, but whether it is better or worse than every other possible use of available capital and resources.
Our job, which is no small undertaking, is to learn enough about their business to answer the question, ‘What are the chief issues and concerns our prospective client is faced with? And of all the things they already know they need to do, which ones are they compelled to act on now, and which ones do they have the resources available to do something about?’
We are valuable to our clients in direct proportion to our unique ability to help them solve problems and achieve their business goals. So it’s up to us to find out, first through our research and later through discovery:
- What exactly is this particular customer or prospect trying to accomplish?
- What are their goals in terms of revenue and growth?
- What are their goals for expanding into new markets?
- What are their goals in terms of on-time deliveries?
- What are their plans to reduce raw materials and finished goods inventories?
- What are their goals in terms of cost containment?
- What are their goals to reduce labor costs and overtime pay?
- What are their goals in terms of cash flow management?
- What are their goals in terms of workforce productivity?
This is just a small sample of the areas in which our customers have probably already established goals that they are trying to achieve. From here we will need to:
- Understand these goals and objectives.
- Understand how they rank and prioritize them.
- Figure out what, if anything, our products and services can do to help them achieve each one.
- Propose a plan of how we think we can help them solve the problems that stand between them and the achievement of these goals.
As we endeavor to understand how we can help our customer, it might also be helpful to know the answers to the following questions:
- What are the projects and initiatives that are already underway?
- What are the projects and initiatives that are planned for the near future?
- What is the criteria and rationale for how they prioritize their list?
- Who would be involved, and whose approval would be required, if they decided they wanted to re-prioritize the list?
Any particular project or problem that happens to appear at the top of the list for the director of information technology (IT) might be near the bottom of the list for the plant manager, and it may not even show up on the list of the CEO. To galvanize and bulletproof our sales campaign, we should take the time to ask whatever questions are necessary to understand the prioritized goals and objectives of each person we meet or who can influence our customer’s buying decision.