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The three conversations you need to hear

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How will we solve this problem? Who will we hire? How’s it going?

There are three conversations your customers have that you really need to know about. Unfortunately sellers are rarely privy to what gets talked about and so are unaware of the things they really need to understand. Without knowing, they are operating in the dark.

So what’s so important about what gets talked about? Well, sales and marketing need to be ‘present’ when prospects are looking for suppliers, value propositions s need to be salient enough to get to the shortlist, brands must be trusted more than the competition to be selected and, reputations only get built if brands  keep their promises and deliver what customers expect.

How will we solve this problem?

  • Who’s involved: who’s driving the conversation, who’s responsible/accountable/consulted or informed; how are decisions taken? What’s the role of other departments like IT?
  • What’s the problem: how is it framed, where’s the urgency, what’s the risk of doing nothing, where’s the pain and where’s the expected gain?
  • What are their experiences to date and what expectations do they have about tools and suppliers? How dissatisfied are the  way they have done this before?
  • How do they feel about it: what’s their emotional  state and what’s the emotional benefit of solving the problem?
  • Who else is involved in the decision making (internally and externally)?

Who will we hire?

  • What tools did they consider hiring and which sort did they choose?
  • How does it need to fit in with their way of working?
  • Who made it to the shortlist and how do they compare (costs, reputation, innovation etc?
  • Which one did they hire?

How’s it going?

  • What’s their experience of the supplier?
  • What emotional and functional value did they get?
  • What are the key things that seem to drive these experience and emotions

There are many ways to go about understanding prospects and customers but it’s not easy. They may not want you to know, may not be able to explain their actions or, you may misunderstand what they say.  These three key barriers to understanding others mean we have to  do the hard work of perspective getting using behavioural analysis techniques.

And if you’d rather hire an expert to help you define your brand, your value proposition or your route to market, give me a call.

Francis Wyburd 

Where You Stand is my London based growth strategy consulting firm. My ‘hidden voice of the customer’ research and market advisory services helps entrepreneurs go to market with sharper propositions and smarter market activities.

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Francis Wyburd
francis@whereyoustand.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)7979 594093

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