Are You Listening to Your Customers?
Last week, I was reading an article on business-to-business sales strategies that popped up on LinkedIn. The article “13 Ways Salespeople Can Speed Up the Sales Process” focused on understanding customer pain points and why listening to customers is vital.
“Sometimes salespeople make the mistake of focusing too much on pitching the product rather than understanding the customer,” the article notes. “Take the time to listen deeply and ask follow-up questions demonstrating empathy and understanding.”
This is an important skill that I have written about in the past. In the many years I have spent training salespeople, one of the hardest things to get salespeople to do is to ask questions to ensure they understand the customers’ real needs.
I believe that customers will always share the key to selling to them if you give them a chance. If you are talking to homeowners about a shower installation, give them a chance to list what is important to them. Are they looking for a company that can help them with the design? Is how fast you can get the job done important, or do they have a design in mind and need you to confirm their ideas are sound and something you can do?
If you’re dealing with general contractors, what is more important to them? Price, lead times or are they looking for a professional who can offer solutions or value engineering to help them bring in a project on time and within budget? Many customers want you to offer several solutions to choose from, while others want you to tell them, as the expert, how they should proceed.
One of the hardest challenges for salespeople is helping customers break old habits. If they have bought from a supplier for years, how do you get them to pay attention to you?
First, you need to find out what they like the most about the company they have been doing business with. Listen to what they have to say and let them know how your company can fit in. Habits do not change overnight, and you may need to look for opportunities to be their secondary supplier to start.
Listening to what they like about their current supplier often tells you what you need to do to start getting some of their business. Whatever the sales situation, your customer knows what is important to them, and you will have more success if you listen to what they have to say first.