I have been schooled!
First – please forgive me for not posting this earlier. I wrote the bulk of it long ago but haven’t taken the time to finish it. So here it is.
Not since I lined up and got a rude introduction to the world of pro football from 6 and 7 year vets have I been reminded so blatantly of the simple lessons I have seemed to ventured away from. I had the pleasure of attending the Fortune Sales and Marketing Summit in Vegas and let me tell you, there are guys out there doing it right, energized about the future, preparing their companies for massive growth and building something that people want to be a part of. The key to having this energy and excitement about the future?
STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF.
Its almost too simple really.
The downturn and the fear that resulted had most people looking internally. Cutting costs, trying to create the next big thing and getting hyper sensitive about themselves – survival mode really.
The aftermath of this has been that processes and procedures focused outward have been hammered. Sales has become about listing benefits and highlights of products. Vendors have been jockying to show themselves as the next killer app or creative geniuses. All the while the needs, fears and issues of the buying public, business or personal, have changed.
Some of the best information from the conference in Tweetable bite sized chunks:
Jeff Thull on Mastering the Complex Sale:
“We are working too hard, over engineering our solutions.”
“If you’re feeling pressure you’re doing something wrong – be the expert.”
“If you can’t define the cost of a problem then there simply isn’t a problem.”
“Value only exists within the customer, never in the solution alone.”
Tony Hsieh of Zappos
“What do customers expect? What do they experience? What to customers feel? How do we create stories and memories?”
“The phone is still the best brand tool out there when you get the interaction right.”
“Be real and you have nothing to fear” Transparency with employees, vendors, distributors and even competitors.”
“Policy is for the sake of the 1% that don’t seem to get it. Deal with the 1% and allow the 99% to build the company.”
There were a lot of other great pieces of information in the conference – feel free to send me a note and I’ll gladly send you a breakdown of my key learnings with the hope that you can apply it to your company group or planning. But I really want to focus on how we can apply the concept of client focus into our businesses and lives in this post.
To take a second and ask someone what they want, and I mean listen to what they REALLY want, is a skill that has gone away in recent years. The success of mega brain corporations like Google and Apple that seem to build demand for things not yet conceived has made people lose sight that there is still a great business model in listening to what people want and delivering it with passion, excitement and an attitude that will let you win. Focusing on the client instead of ourselves is really the key to a business model that, when you look hard enough, is still the same model that Apple or Google use today.
When was the last time you asked a client “What can I do better?” and asked it without the canned response ready to deliver or your plans for the next big thing ready to spring? Taking the time to get personal with our customers and stop talking about ourselves is a business strategy that works. Just ask a customer, and listen to his answer.
