Most sales processes, as distinct from the marketing task of lead generation, assumes the leads are already at least partly ‘on the hook’. They know what they want, they just need a clear, easy path to getting it. So, we map the journey, smooth the bumps, clear the friction, and jump to the close.
More often than not, people are faced with a situation, problem, some unmet need, and do not have a specific shopping list or even time-frame in which the nascent problem needs to be solved.
They want more time with family, lower costs, less complication, greater transparency, in other words, an outcome rather than a product.
In these common circumstances, calling them a “customer” or even ‘potential customer’ too early is a mistake. It leads to thinking “How do we get them to buy our thing?” rather than “How do we help them solve the problem they have.
Our first task is to adequately define the problem to be solved, the context to be addressed.
Language matters. The words we use shape what we see, feel, and think, and drives others to conclusions. The word “customer” has a lot of baggage in the heads of most sales and marketing people.
When my son and his wife were expecting my first grandchild, they needed a more family-oriented vehicle that easily accommodated the baby capsule his beloved coupe could not.
Not getting enough sleep? is it the mattress, partner snoring, stress keeping you awake, or the truck air brakes on the hill outside the bedroom?
It is hard to know the circumstances of the shape of the opportunity and the manner in which you should approach it in the absence of the individual detail.
Jumping too early to a conclusion based on some avatar, template, or generic sales funnel will just ensure you miss the real opportunity. This comes from being able to specifically articulate their problem and the opportunity to describe how your solution delivers the desired outcome better than any alternative.
Ditch the generic lens and start by considering the range of possible contexts and their individual solutions. That’s where the creative insights that make the sale for you hide.
Situations create a buyer.
Needs that cover a huge range from pressing physical needs to keeping up with the Jones’s create a buyer.
People with credit cards extended are the outcome.
This is not just a semantic shift, it is the difference between the hard sell and having them come to you already sold.
Header credit: The great ‘marketoonist’ Tom Fishburne
