“Success in business and success in life reflect the impact you have on the people around you, and on the quality of your relationships with them. […] Enrich more lives, diminish fewer. In other words, create more promoters and fewer detractors. That is the way to ultimate success in your business and in your life.”
― Fred Reichheld
Success in dating and success in business have many things in common. This is why we sometimes recommend the movie Hitch starring Will Smith to salespeople who want to become better at their job.
First and foremost, success at selling is a question of attitude: You need to listen. You need to try to understand the other person—his or her pains, ambitions, dreams. You need to make yourself vulnerable so that an emotional connection can be established.
Jumping over these crucial first steps will not get you a second or third date, and will also likely not get you the sale.
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Many large companies have turned inward-looking. Eighty percent of the staff have not spoken to a single customer over the past 12 months. And even the salespeople invest half of their time creating sales reports for middle and top management instead of talking to customers.
You need to break this cycle: Try to have all of your employees exposed to the voice of the customer at least once every quarter. Bring customers to company events, have them attend and speak in all-hands meetings. Many of your people may initially be shy to talk to customers, but once they understand that customers are people as well—with feelings and dreams—they will become much better at their jobs. Because they will understand “what customers really want.”
Coming back to the dating example helps illustrate this point: A sale is always a situation where the customer puts himself or herself on the line. The customer has a significant problem to solve and puts his faith in your hands. He needs to be able to trust that your product or service will indeed solve the problem. This same principle is at work when a person considers marrying you (putting his or her future life into your hands). Understanding this emotional angst in your customer and relating to it will greatly increase your effectiveness in any sales situation.
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Customers NEVER buy purely based on price. Saying that customers only look at price is dangerous and a lazy excuse by some salespeople. The sales process—even for products like screws or sausages—can be highly emotional. And the more you can amplify these emotions, the more unique your product becomes and the more at a premium you can sell it.
Look at companies like Wurth, Ben & Jerry’s, or even Starbucks.
Action item: Brainstorm with your team about how you can “emotionalize” your products in the eyes of the customer. Ask them what it would take to keep the customer even if you were 10, 20, or 30 percent more expensive than the competition (solution design/features, marketing, loyalty program, partnerships). This discussion can lead to real breakthroughs in how you position your products and services (and what profit margin you can realize).
To get you started on building your “insane customer focus” and listening more directly to customers, we recommend the “Net Promoter Approach” to you. This concept was popularized by Fred Reichheld in his book "The Ultimate Question". After a lot of research and testing, Fred figured out that asking customers the following question helps best in driving up sales and identifying problems early on:
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Ask your customers after every major interaction, “How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague on a scale of 0 to 10 (with 10 being the highest)?”
Customers who answer with a 9 or 10 are called promoters, who are likely to buy more, remain more loyal, and make referrals. Customers who respond with a 0 to 6 are called detractors who are at high risk of leaving for the competition or even bad-mouthing you. Customers with a score of 7 or 8 are neutral (you see that in this scale the neutral point is slightly skewed).
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who are Detractors from the percentage of customers who are Promoters.
If you follow up this question with a “why” question, then you will gain valuable insights on how to improve your products, services, and processes. This is one of the most effective and direct ways to remain close to the customer and drive business growth.
One final thought on customer research and focus groups: Sometimes their results are misleading. Often it is better to develop a “minimum viable product” and get it out to market quickly. This will allow you to get real-time, real customer feedback and then improve the product/service based on it.
Moving to Action: Questions to Ask Yourself
How can you ensure that all people in your company get to hear “the voice of the customer?”
How can you ensure that you get frequent and direct customer feedback? Does it make sense to implement the Net Promoter Approach?
How can you leverage this customer feedback to differentiate your products and services in the eyes of your customers? Sometimes, even small tweaks in your marketing message or in your product features will allow you to clearly differentiate your products and services, and consequently, charge premium prices.
This insight is a chapter from the book "10x Results: 240+ proven ideas to boost revenues, profits, customer loyalty, and employee engagement". The book is available on Amazon.