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Win My Business!
By: Lynne Key
Issue: 2009jul
An industry outsider dismisses common selling myths and explains what distributors should do to make her a happy, loyal customer.
Before you decide to invest your time into reading this article, know that:
1. I’m an industry outsider and have no top-secret promotional products intelligence to share.
2. I really only care about promotional products when they benefit me and my business goals (an ugly truth).
3. I am so busy with my work that I have neither the time nor inclination to participate in your business challenges (an even uglier truth).
4. If, however, you help me succeed, I will give you my trust, my loyalty and my dollars.
I’m your typical customer, and I know how you can earn and retain my business—that is if you can muster the courage to rethink common misconceptions that will, without question, limit your business success with me.
Misconception No. 1: The Customer Is Always Right
The situation: The year was 2004 and my company, DiamondWinds, had just completed our first project, a service-based selling program for Nike’s retail division. As we celebrated our first success, we realized that to sustain DiamondWinds we needed to protect the ownership of our new products. In most businesses, this means acquiring patents. In our world, intellectual property is protected by copyright and trademarks, so I found a law firm that listed copyright as a specialty. I am no stranger to copyright law and I never go into anything without a plan, so in my meeting with the attorneys I shared my plan to safeguard our intellectual property. The good-natured attorneys smiled, took detailed notes and went along with everything I said; they did exactly what I asked. Their every action reflected the idea that the customer is always right.
A second look: If the adage “the customer is always right” is valid then I should have been ecstatic with the experience that day and with the ultimate result today. But that’s not what happened. That day I felt frustration because I had paid these high-priced legal experts to merely echo my own thoughts. I realized I could have gone to the government’s website, filed online and received the same result for a $20 fee. I felt cheated.
Later we learned that I was dead wrong about some of the trademark information. We eventually got it sorted out, but do you think I blame myself for this error? No. I blame my cooperative, smiley legal experts, and I’ve never used them again.
Plugging into your world: A survey of 1,624 customers revealed that 88 percent value representatives who suggest options that will meet their needs better than their initial request. As a customer, please understand that if I’m always right, or if you let me believe I’m always right about promotional products, I will not value your expertise or our relationship. If you let me trust myself more than I trust you in this arena, I’ll be prone to jumping online and searching for my own products.
I come to you today and will continue coming to you because I am not, and don’t want to be, an expert in your industry. Sifting through the scores of product options, imprinting choices, pricing matrices and shipping methods hurts my brain, strains my eyes and steals my joy. (My colleagues suggest that I actually get grumpy, but there’s no valid research to support that allegation.) More important, as Plato said, “I do not know what I do not know,” so there are very important questions, such as those surrounding product safety regulation, that I will not ask until it is too late.
The reality: Stealth expertise is worthless to me; demonstrated expertise is priceless. You will earn and retain my business if you consistently and respectfully demonstrate your expertise to me. Teach me rather than sell me. Show me why I should trust you more than I trust myself.
Misconception No. 2: Stand In The Customer’s Shoes
The situation: Like us, one of our competitors uses promotional products imprinted with learning concepts as a reminder to use new skills on the job. They rely on their promotional products distributor, Tim, to find the right product to work within their customer’s world. Tim is a master at standing in the customer’s shoes, uncovering the wants and needs of a specific decision-maker (in this case, Cindy) and creating a sales experience to energize the individual to issue that all-important purchase order. Cindy cares deeply about the environmental impact caused by disposable water bottles, so Tim built a riveting presentation depicting the environmental benefits of replacing disposable bottles with reusable containers. He then showed Cindy several fabulous water bottles that could be imprinted with workshop concepts. Cindy loved the idea, and Tim left that day with an $8,000 purchase order.
A second look: Cindy was thrilled with her decision, until she began distributing the water bottles. Workshop participants shared that a new company rule banned beverages at their workstations. Cindy vaguely remembered seeing that in an e-mail, but she’d been so excited by Tim’s presentation and the environmental benefit of the reusable water bottles that she considered nothing else. As word of the purchase spread, Cindy’s business stature plummeted. Cindy’s boss made it clear that he expected her to keep up with the changing company policies and slashed her purchasing authority. Cindy blamed Tim and our competitor because she needed them to lead her to a sound decision. The next time a training need arose, the competitor and Tim were excluded from the bidding process.
Plugging into your world: One complication of business-to-business selling is that factors motivating an individual decision-maker to buy can differ from factors that enhance his or her reputation and stature across the organization. Peter Drucker said, “Suppliers and manufacturers have power because they have information that the customer does not have, cannot have and does not need if he can trust [them].” When you choose to stand in the customer’s shoes and adopt an individual’s perspective, you squander this power. It’s like an air-traffic controller who chooses to shut off his or her radar screen and, instead, guide a plane using only the cockpit camera.
The reality: One key to building trust-based, profitable relationships is recommending solutions that will contribute to the success of both the individual contact and the organization overall; it is never just making the sale. Anyone can stand in a customer’s shoes; only a select few can offer the strategic perspectives and solutions known to experts in your field.
Misconception No. 3: Do Whatever It Takes To Get Your Foot In The Door
The situation: Have you seen this commercial? A group of sophisticated consumers is invited to taste test an acclaimed chef’s latest creation. The consumers gather at a five-star restaurant and are seated at linen-clad tables set with genuine silver tableware. Wait-staff, looking smart in tuxedos, serve pasta on the finest china. When asked to rate the pasta, consumers say the pasta is the best they’ve ever sampled. Gasps echo as the consumers learn the pasta was actually made by a national pizza chain and, for only $10, you can buy enough of this tantalizing fare to feed a dozen pint-sized soccer players. Rewind 20 years and we had essentially the same commercial presenting freeze-dried coffee. In each rendition, the customers—in the moment—extolled the product’s extraordinary nature.
A second look: Given the rave reviews, why haven’t freeze-dried coffee and fast-food pasta revolutionized our consumption and purchasing habits? It’s because those rave reviews are expressions of two short-term, artificial factors: the momentary euphoria created by an illustrious setting and the power of positive group response, or what Elias Canetti termed “collective contagion.” These artificial factors create unrealistic expectations equating to false promises to the customer. Eventually, however, the product will live or die based on its true value proposition: the actual benefit it brings to the customer.
Plugging into your world: Breaking into new accounts is challenging. You invest your time, money and hopes into the possibility that one day someone will open a door. You tell yourself if you can just get your foot in the door, you will earn the customer’s trust and loyalty. But as a trusted mentor once told me, be sure you never enter with a smelly foot. When new opportunities arise, avoid the temptation to create unrealistic expectations or offer false promises. If you can’t meet the deadline, ensure the quality or if the shipping will exceed what you’ve quoted, you’ve entered with a smelly foot. Your first chance will likely be your last because no one appreciates a smelly foot.
The reality: Setting unrealistic expectations or giving false promises are sure ways to break trust. Research shows that when trust is broken early in a relationship, it is extremely unlikely that trust will be rebuilt. Remember: Getting your foot in the door leads to profitable relationships only when you can fulfill your promises. If you can’t meet a customer’s stated needs, you can still build trust and enhance the relationship by saying what you can do and offering alternatives.
Lynne Key is president of DiamondWinds, Inc., a Brandon, Florida-based company that helps organizations and individuals build productive, trust-based relationships.
813-684-7922
LKey@DiamondWinds.com
www.diamondwinds.com
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