What Would Your Client Say?

Credit: Peggy Gillespie, 2022

My career has been full of turnaround and “we’re stuck at this volume” assignments. It isn’t anything I sought. Things (opportunities) just seemed to happen that way.

A few chapters back one of those stops included building a new website. The sales team and I worked on getting our story in order. We designed a handful of collateral items and wanted our on-line presence to be consistent.

I’m not a web developer or a graphic designer. I called a couple of creative pals for guidance. I wound up hiring a local studio to crank out a site in keeping with everything else.

I met with the studio head and his creative director. I shared our collateral items and a company power point presentation. I already knew these guys so it was relaxed and easy. They were a customer too so they knew how good we were.

The studio head interrupted, “can you get me names and contact info for your five largest customers? I want to interview them and see why they hire you. I know why we use you guys. It might be different than you think.”

I was surprised but didn’t mind the question. Setting up interviews with our top clients was easy. Everyone was happy to talk with the studio owner and share their perspective. I was confident it would only be good news.

The creative guy sent me a synopsis of each interview. These were our biggest supporters so I expected praise. I was confident I could predict what each would say.

I’ve never been more wrong. I expected praise for our quality, service and innovation. We were a technology leader and I was confident those investments were bringing people to our door. It was what we could do and how fast we could do it that made our cash register ring. With so much sales time under my belt, I had been confident I could answer for all five interviews.

The clients said something else. They spoke to integrity. They praised our empathy and partnership. Our commitment was what they noticed. The other stuff was invisible to them. They were of the opinion that some version of those innovations existed at every printing company.

They went on to talk about problem solving. “If I have a kooky idea and it won’t quite work, they come back with a solution that will. They want me to have my way. My success matters to them. It’s not just another purchase order.”

The studio head could see how surprised I was. He said, “Bill, sales reps walk by what makes them special and talk about what makes them ordinary every day. They miss what matters to creative people. We aren’t worried about getting our project printed. We’re focused on the success of our idea. We expect your printing to work. We want it to be fun too.”

Then he said the rep killer. “If your story doesn’t make you stand out the focus turns to price. You want to talk about the problems you solve not your machines, quality and service.”

This Better Than Average Sales Dude learned a valuable lesson that day. My talk track changed. So did our marketing collateral. So did our power point and our company events…website too.

We look at our companies and see what we do, what we invest in. But clients see us as a resource to solve problems. And they can tell whether or not we care.

Photo: What do you see? My doctor sees and old guy that should hang up skiing. My kids see Dad refusing to get old. I see a chance to spend precious time with my grown children doing something I love. Which perspective is the most valuable?

Look at your company through your customer’s eyes. That’s what you need to sell!