Guest Contributor: Jason Hausske
Companies don’t fail because they lack a product… they fail because they lack customers…. Which means entrepreneurs must be effective and comfortable in front of early customers.
Following are some seemingly basic ideas that if applied would greatly improve the chance of early sales and customer success… and will ultimately improve your chance of business success.
Sales is not “pitching” - Talking to prospects is not like pitching your company for investment, or getting in front of a crowd to present your ideas … You should be focused on identifying problems, seeking to understand those problems and then figuring out how to solve them…. This requires listening, probing, digging… ultimately trying to understand the explicit pain and the impact on the business of that pain.
This is not about you or your product… this is about your potential customer’s pain. Put your product and it’s features on the back burner - your focus is in identifying problems or creating opportunities, not in “selling” your product.
Listen, don’t talk - this really isn’t brain surgery… anyone can do it… but you must be GENUINELY interested in seeking to understand your customer and their problem. 90% of sales people don’t do this well… this may be one of the biggest differentiators between marginal and great sales.
Managing the sales process is like managing a project. You need to outline explicit next steps and get agreement with customers on those steps… and then follow them. There’s nothing worse than ending a “great” call with a prospective customer and then being unclear about when you’re going to speak next.
Pretty basic, huh? Just try it… I guarantee you’ll have a different relationship with your customers, better insights into your product and a much better chance at success.
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Jason Hausske is a business development executive who’s been involved in growing early stage businesses in the Northwest for the past fifteen years. He currently resides in Boise, Idaho and is providing business development coaching to a handful of early stage companies. Jason can be reached at jason [at] ‘lastname’.com.
