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Getting
ahead in the head game An employee is convinced that the boss has it in for
her. She thinks, “he’s always telling me what I do wrong so
I’ll get mad and quit.” She’s convinced that her “idea”
is accurate and nothing anyone can say or do can change it. In fact, she
accumulates “examples” of what he’s doing to make her workday
miserable. It all reinforces the “thought” that her employer
wants to get rid of her. There are other examples. Even though we may be “overweight”
by any standard, the picture we have in our heads of how we look may be
different from the way others see us. As far as we’re concerned,
we’re just about right for our height or age. Studies show that we
tend to see ourselves as about 15 years younger than our actual age. Advertisers
use this to their advantage. Salespeople aren’t any different. We get ideas
in our heads that become reality to us. Nothing can shake our beliefs.
For example, some salespeople believe that customers value them for certain
reasons. Most frequently, these are related to a salesperson’s relationship
with the customer. “Without the relationship I have with that customer,
there would be no more sales.” More often than not when this salesperson
changes territories or no longer serves those particular customers, the
sales figures continue unabated — and even increase. As it turns out, customers often welcome
a change. “I didn’t want to say anything but things weren’t
really going that well,” a client told the president of a firm. “We’ve
always liked doing business with your company, so we’re glad to see
a new account executive. We’re looking forward to getting some new
ideas.” The images in our minds shape our thinking, often to
the detriment of our success. Here are a few common examples: “That customer is only interested in price. That’s
all. Forget about anything else.” “We’ll never get that account. I tried for
years. His brother-in-law has it.” “They think they know all the answers….nothing
grabs them.” “We don’t want that customer. It’s nothing
more than a nothing account…I wouldn’t bother with it.” We’ve heard them all. We get pictures in our heads
as salespeople that become the basis for how we think and operate. And
often, it results in misunderstanding customers, prospects and supervisors
— and leads to career problems. Critical thinking about accounts helps • Why did we get the customer’s
business in the first place?
While we might like to attribute winning the account to exemplary salesmanship,
such a “picture” may obscure other factors that could come back
to hurt us. After
losing an account, how many times have salespeople said, “I thought
everything was going great.” Isn’t
it possible that the customer needed what we were selling? Or perhaps
something went wrong with the original supplier. And it could have been
a referral, of course. Although
we like to think that we made the difference in getting an account, that
picture may blind us to understanding what motivated a particular customer
to begin doing business with us. More
often than not, the customer’s reason for making a buying decision
may not be obvious. It’s worthwhile to ask the question, “Why
did you decide to do business with us?” It can happen shortly after
getting the account or years later. But possessing this knowledge gives
us a clue to what a customer thinks and expects. • What’s the customer’s
value to your company?
Just because customers make purchases is only one component in determining
their value. Salespeople are always gratified when they get an order.
And it’s not surprising that submitting orders reinforces how salespeople
see themselves. The
profitability of those sales is one measure of a customer’s value
— and a significant one to be sure. Salespeople are known to justify
holding on to what is essentially an unprofitable account for seemingly
noble reasons. “We all know this is a high visibility company —
it adds to our prestige to have it.” How
has it helped? How has it helped attract new business? More often than
not the answers are inadequate. The facts fail to support the picture
we have in our heads. • What’s the customer’s
maintenance level? You can evaluate accounts from a different perspective.
While low maintenance and high profit are a combination that we all want,
how many times do we settle for high maintenance and
low profit? Salespeople explain it to their managers, “If we can
just get in the door, I know we’ll get more business quickly. It’s
there. If I work with them, we’ll do well.” Although this can
happen, how many times is our thinking governed by the picture we have
in our heads? The worst part is that it takes high maintenance to
keep the account, time that’s drained away from servicing more profitable
accounts and cultivating new business. We’ve all been there. “I can’t believe
they pulled the rug right out from under me. All the time I spent with
them and all the tech help we provided without charge. Now they up and
move to someone else.” If you should have a high maintenance customer that
is also high profit, spending additional time or providing extra service
makes sense. If not, stop thinking that you can work a miracle, even though
you may want to try. • What does the customer
value most in the relationship and what’s it worth? Do we
really know what’s important to our customers? Or are we just guessing?
Do we ever really spend time thinking about it? Some customers may appreciate on time delivery or the
ease of doing business with us. Or it may be that a particular salesperson
is the source of helpful information, a reliable resource. Or a salesperson’s
expertise in solving problems can be of significant value to customers. If we can pinpoint with accuracy exactly what value
we bring to the relationship, we then know how to act. At the same time,
value is subject to change. What was important initially, or at a particular
point, may change. Unless we are sensitive to what’s happening with
a customer, we might discover that the account is no longer ours. Customer
circumstances and needs change. The key is figuring out how much pain a customer might
feel if the relationship is broken. What will the customer lose by changing
to another supplier? How can we be sure that we’re correct in our
assessment? • Where are we going with
the customer? Taking care of customers can be demanding and time
consuming. Just taking care of what’s happening at the moment may
leave little time to think about future business. As workloads increase
and support services disappear, the demands pile up fast. In these circumstances,
doing a good job is often deemed taking care of the account. You’re
always there when needed and if there’s a problem, you take care
of it. Even with all that’s going on, you have a warm
and fuzzy picture in your head. You’re getting the job done —
taking care of your accounts. This is where many salespeople find themselves
today. Under pressure, but performing. Yet, this may be the prescription for losing the business.
As salespeople we’re always looking for what’s “new”
and “improved” to take to current customers and attract new
ones. This should be a clue as to what’s going on inside our customers’
heads, as well. Why do companies change vendors? Dissatisfaction with
service? Of course. But the primary reason may be a failure to lead. A
company purchased LCD projectors from one vendor for years. When it came
time to upgrade the equipment, the buyer decided to go elsewhere. In the
past, the price had always been right and the service was excellent. In
fact, there were no complaints. There was, however, a failure to keep
the customer informed of new types of equipment. It was a failure to lead
that lost the account. Ironically, it’s rarely
the facts that get us in trouble as salespeople. It’s the images
in our heads that cause the problem. More often than not, they overrule
the facts. We all need a reality check from time to time. If we continually
ask the right questions, the chances are we will get ahead quite well
in sales, perhaps the ultimate head game.
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