How to become sales centric - know who your buyers are!

"If only I could get in front of the right sort of people I would be a millionaire!" a good friend of mine said to me recently.

And he is right.

He has a good product, an excellent track record, and respect from his competitors, an excellent pricing model and a reputation for excellent delivery. So how come he is not a millionaire?

The simple answer is that his business is product centric, not client centric. He does of course know how to deliver excellent services, and can promote the products with associated benefits.

But that does not make it client centric.We have all heard the story of the “Killer Application” that would transform business processes. Well yes, there are a few examples where this did happen - but there are many more examples of killer apps that did not deliver the clients benefits despite their technical prowess. They failed because they did not answer the most basic of business questions that the paying client would ask – what’s in it for me?

To be client centric means building the business around the wants and needs of the clients, not the products. It means understanding exactly what they want, when they want it, where they want it and critically how much they are prepared to pay for it.

Client centric companies are agile, flexible, adaptable, and alert to change. They listen, ask questions, do research, conduct surveys, network and deepen their knowledge. They then do what most would not dare do – they give the knowledge away! They do this as a form of reward to those that gave the information in the first place. Nothing confidential or illegal but juicy insights or succinct summaries of where the industry is heading, what’s happening and who/what the key drivers are.

Client centric companies know that knowledge without insight is like and engine without fuel.

Where would you start in turning your business into a sales centric one? There are many ways but my experience suggests that the start point is in determining who the clients are – your target audience. There might be a bit of “heavy lifting” involved in having to think through exactly which segment you will serve best. But it is worth the doing.

Segment existing clients, think how your ideal client will be and so on until you can accurately describe them to your best friend or partner and they nod in agreement.

Once you know who they are, the next bit is to really get to know them. Invest time with them; add value at all opportunities until you are synonymous with the industry segment.

If you know who you are aiming your service at, the next stage is straightforward. Promote yourself to them in the best way that you can.

Marketing is described as telling people what you do over and over again. I agree but my version is – tell the RIGHT people what you do over and over again.

That’s my thoughts. What do you think?

You can call me on 07956 532963 for more information or to talk about your sucesses.