Dumping Information on Prospects is Easy!
This week I’ll be in Daytona Beach, Florida delivering a keynote speech at a regional sales meeting for Brighthouse Networks, a cable TV and information company, which serves over 2.2 million subscribers in the U.S.
In preparation for my talk, I had the opportunity to speak with Don Koehler, Director of Sales and Strategic Initiatives for Brighthouse Networks in Florida. Don will be presenting right before me, and we both wanted to make sure we were on the same page (we were).
Don came up with an initiative titled, “Knowledge into Wisdom.” The premise is that most salespeople just dump facts and information on their clients without ever showing them how to use the information to their advantage.
In other words, it’s not enough for your company to possess cutting edge research. It’s also not enough for you to be able to deliver that cutting edge research to your clients. What’s really needed is for you to show your clients how to implement that research for the benefit of their businesses!
The internet has made all sorts of information available to almost anyone and any company, no matter the size. While this is a huge benefit for small business owners, many of us don’t have the luxury to sift through all this stuff!
If you want to be truly successful in the 21st century, you have to be better than my computer. If you’re just going to throw information at me, I don’t need you. If you want to be indispensable to clients and prospects, you will need to take that information and organize it; then act upon it and deliver it to us in a way that we can both understand and implement conveniently.
I don’t want to know solely about the features and benefits of what it is that you sell. I want to know what you can do to help my business do more business. I want to know that you not only understand what I do, but that you understand who MY clients are and what they do.
Remember, dumping information on prospects is easy, but giving them business know-how is hard.
Right on! I’ve been in sales for years, and now coach salespeople and small business owners who wear the sales hat. Many of them struggle because their focus is on THEIR product or service — NOT on their prospect’s problem. The key is to find out what’s going on with your prospect and then identify how your product or service can help them solve their problem. Also, if you can’t help them – tell them. If you know someone else who may be able to help them, tell them that too. Be useful; add value. People remember that and even though you may not do business with them, they will probably refer you to others.
Diane,
Thanks for the incredibly insightful comment. I love the part about "Be useful," and if you can’t help them tell them, then find them someone who can. That’s the big difference between salespeople who only want to "make a sale" and those whose focus is to "develop a client." There’s a big difference. Thanks again.
Yeah Warren! With baseball spring training underway, your classic fundamentals remind us all, that no matter how good our game is, we all need a tune up. I?m challenged with a new executive team who are all about their product. Worse yet, they believe they’re good at sales and miss many of your points. I find sales an easy profession if you can successfully transition your company from a ?vendor? to a "partner". This takes time as you focus on the relationship and learn more about their business. Your investment in this transition will pay dividends as you remind us. Many additional sales opportunities were overlooked when you are busy beating your chest in front of the customer. I continue to use your articles to pepper my executive team as I re-engineer how they think and behave in front of my prospects.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Jack,
Your executive team should give thanks that they have someone in their organization who understands the difference between making a sale and developing a client. In the long run, while they’re busy chasing one-shot deals, you’ll be bringing in huge amounts of repeat business, along with a basket full of referrals from loyal long-term clients. Keep up the good fight!