How Do Customers Buy?

Credit: Tiffany Fox

I bought printing before I sold printing. I think it helped. From the beginning I had empathy for the life of my prospects and customers. Thanks to my career path, I could see our industry through their eyes.

My first sales manager could not. He was a very successful veteran. His time and success led him to formulas he felt worked. My sales days were measured against his metrics.

As shared, he had formulas for everything. There were “canned talks” on each feature. I was to make ten face to face calls daily. I was to make fifteen outbound telephone calls. I was to return to the office at the end of each day to review the day’s progress.

It was awful. I couldn’t make ten calls of any value. The best I could do was four. Even then I felt rushed.

He scolded me. “You’re ignoring what we know works. This is how we sell.” In frustration I shot back, “I don’t give a flip how we sell. I care how customers buy. If I blow in and blow out, I’m a route salesman. My call is worthless to the buyer.”

As crusty as the sales manager was, he couldn’t argue with my point. “How do customers buy” was a better question than “what do customers buy.” He kept pressure on my success but left me to my own methods. It was a watershed moment in my career.

Fast Forward: I was enjoying a level of success when I met a senior financial planner. Technically, this guy was an insurance salesman. Certainly, that is what his license said.

But his business was full of very elegant solutions. This guy packaged policies to solve all sorts of business and estate objectives. He sat with clients, listened, made notes and suggested solutions. The solutions always involved bundled financial protection.

Sitting on the bow of his boat he said, “Bill, the difference between my selling and yours is you deliver a product. It’s a brochure or business card or mailer. You have to be an expert in what you do. You don’t have to be an expert in what your clients do. My success depends on me seeing the world through my client’s eyes.”

That ruffled my feathers. This guy was solving problems for plumbers, restaurant owners, construction firms etc. I was selling to Fortune 100 companies. My audience was as elegant as his. If he could do it I could do it. I decided to rethink how I did business.

I’ve written on this before. I started asking clients why not what. I asked, “what’s the hard part of buying what we do. What would make the process easier? What would lower your internal costs?”

Those questions changed everything. Over time, my clients and I focused on what mattered most. We identified patterns that led us to design better solutions. We expedited pricing. We took on storage. We managed more layers of distribution. We automated handoffs.

Fast Forward Again: When you’re an idea guy the client will always see you. If you’re a bid slinger, not so much. Bid slingers can email or text a price. They can even complete an on-line RFP. Their value ends when the bid is delivered.

Idea guys make their contacts more valuable upstairs. They have a reserved seat. Busy customers will always make time to see these reps.

I’ve shared this before. A C-Level Executive cut me off mid-sentence. I was expressing concern over cost and their budget. She said, “I don’t care about that. Budgets happen at the bottom. If the solution makes my business more successful or efficient it’s worth the money. Let me hear your idea.”

Look at the work you do. Look at the work your clients and prospects buy. Look at who they buy it from. Ask yourself why. Ask them why. Look for patterns and design solutions. The answers are lying right in front of you.

How customers buy matters more than how you sell. Clients want ideas not bids.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.