Nothing Happens until the Customer Says

Nothing happens until you sell something!

While I believe this statement is true, it is a somewhat selfish view. As a Sales Manager I would like to believe that without sales, business as we know it would cease to exist and the epicenter of every company should revolve around the Sales Team and Salespeople. But I have learned that while sales are extremely important the truth is:

Nothing happens until the Customer says it happens.

No matter how good your products or how creative your marketing department or even how great your sales team, if your customers are not willing to buy, nothing else matters.

But you might remember from the last post that I said “Everything Matters” which I firmly believe but not without knowing what matters to your customers. They are the ones that tell you what they really care about.

So whether you are the Owner of the company, a rookie Account Manager or anyone in-between, this week you need to ask yourself “What really matters to my customers?”  Then consider “What can I do to make it happen?”

If you are a Marketing, Sales or Account Manager here’s my suggestion:

Step One: Identify what matters to your customers. If you don’t know or can’t write down with certainty five to six things that really matter, you have some additional work to do. Don’t go any further until you know.

Step Two: Review your marketing and sales plans. Make sure the items identified above are included in the plans. If they are not, begin to revise the plans to include the things that matter.

Step Three: Remove things from the plans that don’t matter. This may be the hardest of part of the process. I see in many/most cases marketing and sales plans that are filled full of things that matter to the company, department or person making the plan and little to do with the customer. If it doesn’t matter to the customer and is not necessary to the company consider removing it from the plan.

Step Four:  Implement the revised plan. Now you have a plan that should be focused on what matters to the customer and your business and less on what makes no difference.

How many times do you see Marketing and Sales strategies completely miss the target?

The solutions they are offering really don’t matter to the customer. I have an inbox full of these missed strategies every morning and every Tuesday my mailbox at home is full of the same. (I didn’t realize until last week that Tuesdays are the Post Office’s junk mail day in our town)

It seems companies trying to sell you something really don’t know you at all and what matters is what matters to them. (although they try to make you believe differently)

If you will start with the four steps above, you may find you are doing everything perfectly. If so congratulations and keep up the good work.

But if not, you must start by implementing the things that matter and eliminating the things that don’t.  You will quickly begin to see a change with your customers and the relationships you are trying to grow.

Once they realize you and your company understands what really matters to them and that you have the products and solutions they need, you will begin to see great things start to happen.

Remember what I said at the beginning of this post:

Nothing happens until the Customer says it happens and “then” it only happens when you sell something!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you would like, please leave a comment below or you can email me at feedback@wewaonthenet.com.

You can also follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WE_Ward.

Now let’s get out there and over-deliver!