What do customers really want?

by Pete Monfre
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that your customers don't really care about the latest whiz-bang feature of your new whatchamathingy. I'm also willing to bet they don't really care that much about how big you are, how small you are, how nice your office is, what your vision or mission might be or how awesome your last ad campaign was. Over the course of doing many surveys and focus groups with executives and physicians, one thing has been absolutely consistent. Customers want you to solve their problems.

This could mean reducing costs or hassles (which usually incur added costs) or increasing revenue. But promising these broad concepts isn't good enough. You need to understand your prospect's and customer's problems on a case-by-case basis. And you need to be up front about whether you can truly solve these problems.

For some of you, this might seem painfully obvious. However, take a look at all of your outward facing marketing and sales materials. Do they specifically state the types of problems you solve? Can your sales people articulate the types of problems typically faced by customers and align them with solutions?

For example, FedX solves the problem of getting packages to their destination when they “absolutely, positively have to be there overnight”. If your problem involves delivering a package within 24 hours, it is pretty clear that FedX is in the business of solving this specific problem.

Another way to look at this equation is to think of it in terms of pain. For example, when I am talking to a prospect I may explain my capabilities in terms of the types of pain the prospect might be feeling. For example:

I work with CEOs that are:
- concerned about a lack of new opportunities coming through the door.
- frustrated by spending on marketing programs that don't seem to impact revenue goals
- angry that their sales and marketing teams are at odds resulting in missed opportunities

My point here is to deliver your message in emotional language the prospect can understand and to which he or she can relate on a personal level. A list of features just isn't effective in created the gut-feel buying impulse that causes the buyer to choose your offerings over your competitors.

Whether you are selling electronic boxes or accounting services, at the end of the day your customer buys for his or her own reasons. Rarely do they buy based on logic. How can you tap the emotion of the buyer and clearly communicate how you can improve his or her condition?

The sky is falling- Some straight talk about The Recession Part One

By Pete Monfre
The sky is falling!
I used to hear a lot about the coming recession as it blared from every news channel and radio talk show within ear shot. Since I tossed a brick through my television, I hear much less inflammatory rhetoric these days, but I assume that these fair and balanced media sources continue to trumpet impending doom for American businesses. I thought it might be valuable (or at least entertaining) to bring some actual facts to the table.

Regardless of how much the economy is politicized, the fact is that all economies and markets are cyclical to some degree. Whether you call it a “chasm” or a “correction” or a “recession” history tells us that it is only a matter of time when the curve begins it's movement upward. The technical definition of a recession is when economic growth contracts to negative numbers for two or more quarters. The real question is how low will it go and how long will it last? I don't care who you are – this is impossible to predict accurately. One thing seems inevitable, the media's drum beating will only exacerbate the issues and create what I call a “psychological” recession.

It's all in your head
As “experts” enter our living rooms to give their various viewpoints we tend to believe them. After all, they are “experts” - we know this because they have fancy titles, wear ties and mouth confusing jargon that seems very serious and credible. Most of what they say goes right over the head of the average viewer who may or may not realize that media outlets go for what’s hot, what’s sexy, and what will give them the most viewers. How exciting is it to hear someone say the economy is doing well?

The more the drum beats, the more people become frightened and worried. The public’s perception of recession becomes negative, and the reaction just makes the situation that much worse. Combined with the rising energy, grocery and housing costs, people reduce spending and the effect ripples through corporate America and eventually the stock market.

B2B is invisible to the media
However if you sell products and or services to other businesses, what you see on the news may not actually apply to your situation. Almost all of the recessionary horror stories deal with consumer spending – the media rarely covers business to business markets. Certainly if consumer spending lags long enough there will be some effect however, hospitals still buy imaging equipment, corporations still buy software and most businesses can't afford to take a “wait and see” position. It's grow or die.

So you are seeing fewer opportunities recently – how's your bucket?
When it comes to bringing in new customers, there is no doubt that this dynamic is also cyclical. How dramatic these cycles are is actually within the control of the affected company. Of course we like to blame it on “the market” or “the customer” or “the competition” or “George Bush” but at the end of the day we are the ones to blame.

Can you seriously say your sales and marketing programs are as good as they could be? Would you say they approach "best practices"? Honestly? Well, don't feel bad. The truth is, every business is a somewhat leaky bucket. It's near impossible to have a perfectly sealed bucket – there will always be inefficiencies, unexpected costs, waste and other factors that leak away some profit. When times are good, and plenty of water is pouring into the bucket, these leaks and holes don't seem that significant. But when things get tight (and they will, sooner or later) what seemed like pin holes now look like gaping fountains.

So what is the typical reaction? Most companies bring out the axe – cutting jobs, programs and other expenses. Sometimes this cutting is needed. Unfortunately, many companies cut the very things that would solve their problem to begin with! “Marketing? What a waste of money. Kill it!” says the CEO. “Sales support? Too expensive.” says the CFO as he crosses line items from the budget. “Advertising?! I never liked those ads anyway – fire the ad agency!” says the CMO. It's as if these companies were on a losing streak in NASCAR and their answer was to sell the engine. It makes no sense.

A more sensible approach
It's hard to blame these smart leaders to looking cross-eyed at their marketing and sales teams when things get tight. Most marketing and sales teams are fairly dysfunctional – making up more than their share of the holes in the bucket. The marketing team is cranking out fancy, expensive brochures while the sales manager is crying out for something her team can actually use. The sales people whine that they don't have enough leads and the ones they have are crap.

Instead of tossing the baby out with the bath water, it makes better sense to step back and take a cold hard look at your marketing and sales programs. Gather the team and spend a day or two systematically analyzing what works, what doesn't, what customers really want, what the market is doing, etc. Leave no stone unturned, check titles at the door and slaughter the sacred cows. The idea is to find and eliminate waste and inefficiencies while re-focusing the team on what works. Have your sales team draw their sales process on a white board – if they can't do it there's a hole in the bucket that needs fixing. Ask your marketing team how customers define value – don't accept vagaries. Ask what the buying drivers are and how customers rank them. When they answer, ask them how they know – is their response anecdotal or empirical? When was the last time they talked to a living, breathing customer?

Cut any tactic that isn't contributing to revenue and increase investment in those activities that are working. If you can't be objective bring in someone who can. Objectivity is the key to the entire process. A good outside facilitator can make this process thorough, reasonably quick and painless while refreshing and uniting the team so they can move forward as a cohesive unit and maximize every opportunity that presents itself.

Stay tuned for Part Two where we'll get into some specifics about how to crank up your sales and marketing programs to offset any downturn you might be seeing.