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Helping Others Helps You
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The Brooks Group
A by-product of helping others to achieve focus and direction is that your own focus and direction improve as well. A young medical equipment salesperson named Randy was only a year out of college. His company had come out with a new product that was innovative, creative, and state-of-the-art. This new machine automated the analysis of spinal injuries and generated a detailed report that expedited the doctor’s work tremendously. Though very expensive, it was clearly the best product on the market. Its capabilities were so exceptional that it could increase a physician’s business and income by drawing patients from a wider area.
One day he called on a prominent neurosurgeon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The doctor had a large practice and a national reputation that brought him all the patients he could ever be able to handle. He quickly told the salesperson he had no interest in a machine that would draw more patients. Though still new to sales, the sales rep remained focused on his target. He continued to ask questions of the surgeon, probing for the doctor’s most dominant needs. By persisting, he discovered that though the surgeon did not need to enhance his practice, he was looking for ways to reduce the time he spent handling what he already had. Randy discovered that one of the doctor’s most time-consuming tasks was giving court depositions, though they added little to his income.
Although he was focused on his prospect’s needs, he also knew his product well. He quickly told the surgeon about the ability of his product to display its data automatically in an objective format that was easy to understand and would be accepted in court depositions. The real kicker was that the machine produced the data in color, which was the most important need the doctor had in handling court depositions. As you guessed, the doctor placed an order. And for immediate delivery!
This story is a good example of something that few would have seen as a major selling feature: the production of data in color. The benefit? More easily described and clearly communicated information to non-medically oriented gurus! Yet, by focusing on his prospect’s needs, he hit the target dead-center and got much more than the commission from making a large sale. That surgeon no longer thought of him as a salesperson, but as a trusted business colleague who had helped him fulfill one of his most pressing needs. By helping someone else find direction, the sales rep enhanced his own sense of direction, too. The key for him was knowing his product, being on top of a rapidly changing industry, and focusing on his prospect’s dominant needs.
Focus on Your Customers and Never Look Away
Almost anyone is receptive to new ideas when they have the time to listen. Often, though, there are periods in everyone’s life when everything seems to be falling down around them. During those struggles, most people drop back to a survival mode. New ideas seem like something best put off for a day when the wolf is not baying at the door. This shifting of focus is a natural response to hard times in our lives.
In business, the same thing happens. Hard times often cause companies to retrench into a survival mode. Whether it is issues related to quality, delivery, service or cash. It’s always the same. During those retrenchments, there is a natural tendency for salespeople to shift their focus away from customer’s needs to income, survival, or quota. The logic may be, “It won’t matter whether our focus is on our customers’ needs if we go out of business. For now, we’ve got to meet our quota for this quarter; then we’ll worry about the customers!”
While that is a natural tendency, never let it take your focus off the only thing that will bring you success in today’s crowded marketplaces: fulfilling your customers’ needs and addressing their agendas.
If you are retrenching, everyone else probably is, too. They will most likely shift their focus to themselves and concentrate on survival. That is the best time to ask yourself, “How can I serve this prospect’s deepest need?” Your customers are probably retrenching, too. More than ever, they need someone who will focus on their needs, which may be getting desperate.
Any downturn in the economy, for example, can be used to leave your competitors in the dust. Since even fewer salespeople will be focusing on your customers’ needs, you will stand out more than ever before when you refuse to lower your focus. The reputation you build for yourself during tough times will long be remembered.
The_Brooks_Group3810
4 months ago
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