Thinking Like Your Customer

Several years ago a well-known professional speaker asked me what I did better than any other sales strategist. Most people would find a question like that tough to answer. I didn't have any trouble. Without hesitation I answered, "I hear things from a customer's perspective."

"You mean you're a really good listener?" he said, trying to fit my response into a familiar sales skill set.

"No," I replied. "I hear from a customer's perspective. I know immediately how they'll react to a seller's words, questions, or presentation. I know exactly what needs to be changed in their customer interactions in order to advance the sales process."

He looked at me like I was nuts. I'm not.

Defining your prototypical customer
For years I've helped companies jump-start their new product launches and shorten time to revenue. To be effective, I learned how to quickly immerse myself in their customer's shoes so I could figure out the best value propositions, create sales tools and develop sales training programs.

For every project, I created a prototypical customer that I used as a benchmark to test which sales approaches would yield the best results. There's no magic in doing this. It's a discipline that anyone can learn if they're willing to invest the time.

I also have my own prototypical customer. Let me tell you a few things about him. He is:

• Between the ages of 40 - 55 with a title such as "Vice President, Sales."
• Responsible for achieving ever-escalating growth/revenue objectives.
• Constantly worried where business is going to come from this quarter.
• Not sure that the people on his team are capable of making "the numbers."
• Often abrupt in initial conversations, but a nice guy once you get to know him.

Everyone wants his time. He's booked solid and on the road a lot. Losing his top sellers or best customers would add even more stress to his already overfilled workload.

I call him "Bob" - although his name might be Keith, Debbie or Paul. I could even describe how he looks, although I won't because one of my "Bobs" might be reading this!  But what's most important is that I know how my prototypical customer thinks - regardless of his sex or physical appearance.

Improve your prospecting success
Here's how I use "Bob" to help me get business. Before I call him, I write out a personalized script template integrating my knowledge of his company and my value proposition.

After that, I pretend that I'm Bob and listen to how it "hears" to me. When I do this, I can immediately tell when I'm babbling or sounding like an overanxious seller. Then I change the wording and do it again. And again ... till I finally find something that appeals to Bob.

Next I'll think about what happens if Bob picks up the phone. If my lead-in is good, he'll likely say, "Tell me more." So then my task is to figure out how to say what I do in a way that entices Bob. I test and retest how I'm going to respond to his comment until I come up with an answer that make him want to set up an appointment with me. 

Now you may think this is a lot of work. Well, it is. But think about all the work you don't have to do because you're so much more effective in every client interaction. That's the beauty of creating your own prototypical customer.

Create your own "Bob"
Last fall as I was reading the business section of our local newspaper, a headline jumped out at me because my name was in it: "Best Buy builds a store for Jill."

As defined by this retailer, Jill is the suburban mom-type who is the main shopper in the family. She's well educated and confident, but typically intimidated by high tech toys and store clerks who spout words like gigabytes and megapixels.

So Best Buy is creating Jill-friendly stores in order to attract this prototypical customer with her significant spending power. Every time they face a decision, they can ask, "How would Jill feel about this? Would she like it? Would it encourage her to stay in this department longer?"

Doing this significantly enhances their ability to be successful with all the Jill's of the world. Best Buy has profiles for Barry, Buzz and Ray too.

Are you starting to see how this works? I'd suggest you give it a try. Create just one prototypical customer to get started. Really get inside his or her head. next look at your account entry campaign or PowerPoint presentation from his or her head. Then make the changes you need to be more effective.

You already know how to do this. When you were growing up, I bet you didn't tell your parents about everything you did. Why? Because you knew how they'd react. Or if you did tell them, you found a way to downplay or conveniently omit things that you knew were unacceptable to mom or dad.

Or think about your best friends. Do you know how they react to certain jokes? Political events? Pressure to get things done?  Of course you do.

See, you already know how to really climb into people's heads. You probably just never applied it to your sales efforts. I think it's about time to get started. Don't you?

Related Resources:

Creating Enticing Voicemails audio 
Setting Up Appointments with Ease audio

Comments

[rickey gold]

Terrific article. I'm sharing it with my colleagues. It's so logical and yet most of us probably don't write out a script beforehand.
Thanks, Jill.