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The problem is that customers don’t always tell you the whole truth. They generally don’t lie, but they speak in their own language. As a part of the sales team or as a business entity how can we possibly deliver a solution to someone who isn’t telling us the whole truth about what they want? It’s fairly simple. Develop insights than just go by superficial observations or plain semantics . Taking everything that customers say as gospel truth without developing insights into what they are saying and why they are saying might hamper our probability of success.
Long ago, I used to have a very loyal customer. He was patronising the company that I used to work for only because of his fondness for me (that’s what my ego used to conveniently believe in…). When I was away on a business trip, he happened to call me and said he might need a sponsorship for attending one of the congresses in Europe. It was just ten days away and looking at popularity of the congress it was really a short notice. I heard him say that he has not made up his mind however, in case he firms up his plans, he would call me back. He also told me to meet him once I am back in Mumbai. I reiterated that in case he decides to go, he should let me know and everything would be taken care of. For the kind of business he was giving, the expenses were well within our budget. I came back to Mumbai and went again for another business trip and I “assumed” that he has decided not to attend the congress since I did not receive any call from him. After few days, the account manager handling this account told me that this customer went ahead and attended the congress by taking the support of competition and he has stopped using our products. With lot of efforts, I could manage to get an appointment to meet him and his contention was that I should have taken initiative and be in touch with him. I vehemently argued with him saying I was waiting for his call…I could never get him back him as my customer.
I learnt a lesson there, what customers say and what they mean could be quite different. Few suggestions to bridge this delta:
- Observe the ecosystem of the customer.
When I did little bit of research and spoke to the other stakeholders in the organisation, I got insight that this particular customer was under the influence of another customer who was loyal to another company. Had I been in touch with the ecosystem of the customer, probably I could have picked up early signals.The other stakeholders in the organisation would help us in understanding the buyer’s behaviour better.
- Probe, listen, and ask questions to develop insights.
Let me narrate a situation, I was doing a training project for a large pharma company. I had requested the company management that I would like to meet cross section of customers so that I can help them segment their customers. I was accompanied by a Regional Sales Manager. Whenever their customers start talking anything negative about their products, this RSM would jump in and give all the technical gyan to customers. I told him to take me a loyal competition customer and I requested him to shut up and not to talk at all in the meeting. The customer on probing gave wealth of information about competition and their KOL activities. It was important for the company to draw a conclusion as to why their customers were patronizing the competition. The company managers were under the impression that it is because of the merit of the competition product as customers would tell them so. It is extremely important for us to shut up once in a while and listen intently, listen to them with empathy, extract information and develop insights. Asking rather than assuming would be the key.
- Observe the customers in their natural environment.
Whether it is a B2B or B2C customer, observing them in a natural setting is a widely practiced approach that exposes not only which products they use, but also their feelings and utility for those products. I have learnt a lot by observing the behaviors of clinicians in the OTs or Labs when they are really doing their work. I have also learnt about the behavior of clinicians when they counsel the patients for procedures. At P&G oral health science ‘Insight Suite,’ a two-way mirror lets the company watch customers use products in a bathroom and a kitchen. Researchers can then note how users interact with the products and what they use them for.I know a friend of mine who went to the construction sites of India’s largest construction company to understand the behaviour of stakeholders operating from their Head office.
- Body tells you if they say what they don’t mean…
I had a customer, who would always promise me that he would increase the share of wallet but never looked into my eyes and I never got more business that he was promising can pick up a lot from the gestures and tones of the customers. Some of the pointers could be…Is the smile genuine or not, raised eyebrows, mimicking your gestures….etc
- Assigning the real reason for buying your product and not buying your product would be critical.
Observing the ecosystem and probing the customer will help us in developing insights about the real reason as to why the customer is using our product or using competition product. He might say product is good but may like the sales person. He may say he likes the sale person but might be liking the support the company provides, might say the brand of the product is good, might be liking the price that’s being offered to him…There are innumerable permutations and combinations of what he says and what might be the reason for him to buy or not to buy the product. Assigning the real reason for each customer or segment of customers would be good idea.
As a student of marketing, I always have a habit of walking into a store and studying about the range of products, the ways of their customer handling and promotional offers….etc. I randomly show interest in a particular range of products and look into the price tag. To find an escape route I generally ask for something that they don’t have and I come out…I always used to wonder if they ever order for that particular product,I asked for, what implication it would have on their inventory carrying cost!!!!! It is difficult to read some customers I guess…