Think Like a Client
A sales representative from a large bank recently called my office and asked to speak with me. When the receptionist told me who was on the line, I asked her to tell the sales representative that we were not interested in changing banks.
Several weeks later, I was furious when I learned that this same sales rep kept calling my office demanding to talk to me. Our receptionist repeatedly offered to let her speak with the office manager, but the sales rep declined. She said she would continue calling every day until I spoke with her.
Fortunately for her, she stopped calling before I had a chance to speak with her.
The sales rep had no way of knowing that I have a great relationship with bankers at a number of the local community banks. She was unaware that I regularly encourage my clients to leave her large bank (and others like it) because no decision maker at the bank knows them or understands their business. She did not realize that we have been frustrated with the horrible customer service we have received since her large bank gobbled up the the bank where we had our business credit cards.
She only knew that she wanted to make a sale.
Persistence is an admirable trait — most of the time. Her mistake was that she was so focused on her objective (making a sale) that she refused to listen to our response ("We're not interested!"). Why would any intelligent person believe that she could annoy a prospective client into doing business with her?
Success in any business depends on your ability to stop thinking about what you want, and to instead think like a client. Forget your own concerns. Your clients don't care that you have a mortgage to pay, that your creditors are snapping at your heels, or that you have cute children who want to attend an expensive private university. It's not that they're insensitive, it's just that they have concerns of their own.
Harry Beckwith suggests that if you want to succeed, "Ask — and keep asking yourself — 'What would people love?'" Offer solutions to the problems that keep your clients awake at night. Find a way to make their lives easier. Help them resolve problems they might not even know that they have.
You may have to fundamentally change the way you do business, or change the way you charge for your services. You might — gulp! — have to learn about your client's industry and specific needs. Once you begin to think like a client rather than thinking like a service provider, your eyes will be opened to endless possibilities.
Think like a client and your business will boom.
P.S. If the sales rep ever calls back, she will wish she hadn't.
UPDATE: Read what the sales rep should have done to turn the cold call into a hot prospect. Thanks to Gerry Riskin for the suggestion to update the article.
Posted by BiziBoom Blog at 5/12/2009 3:36 PM 
Categories: Marketing,Small Business,Client Service
Tags: Stop Focusing on Your Needs and Think Like a Client.
Categories: Marketing,Small Business,Client Service
Tags: Stop Focusing on Your Needs and Think Like a Client.
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10/29/2009 5:03 AM
In Black And White wrote:
The question we are considering this week is: Are you focused on asking questions? I never ask questions. - 20%
Great article!!!!
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Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate your support.
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