From the course: Business Development Foundations: Researching Market and Customer Needs

Understand your prospect's customers

From the course: Business Development Foundations: Researching Market and Customer Needs

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Understand your prospect's customers

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- One of the best ways to make a sale is to experience the world of your prospect's customer. For example, Salesforce account executive, Sachin Ray, closed a $3 million global deal because he was willing to make an eight hour ride on a Greyhound bus. In the book Naked Sales, authors Ashley Welch and Justin Jones describe how Sachin boarded a Greyhound bus in San Francisco and took the eight-hour bus trip to Los Angeles in order to learn everything he could about Greyhound, who was an account he was trying to sign. During Ray's eight-hour learning journey, he talked to everyone, from the ticket takers to the baggage handlers to drivers to customers. He took photos and he noticed every detail. By immersing himself in the customer's experience, Ray gleamed valuable information about how he could help Greyhound and his thorough research landed him an audience with Greyhound's COO. The two sat down to work together to look for solutions. Eight months later, Sachin and his team were able to build this relationship across multiple channels into a $3 million global deal. It's a true story and it highlights the importance of walking in the shoes of your customer's customer. After all, those people, the ones who are one removed from you, are the ones who ultimately determine success. Everything, every product, every decision, every initiative, every plan that an organization makes comes down to end user impact. Even if you're selling an internal product like copiers or a project management system, understanding your customers and user is crucial for your ability to sell. So, what do you do if you don't have eight hours to sink into a bus ride? Well, if the company you're calling on has a free offering for customers, like a 30-day trial or a white paper, or even an opportunity to speak to one of their business development reps, take it. This puts you in the shoes of their customer very quickly. If there's no easy offering, look up your prospect's customer reviews online. Hearing the pain points or the points of delight in their customer base, that will help you ask strategic questions and attach yourself to the most pressing issues. And if all else fails and you have no time, take 30 seconds before your call and think what is it like to be a customer of the business you're calling on? Are they excited? Are they stressed? Are they hopeful? What do they want from your customer's product? Understanding the end user and working to help them puts you in alignment with your prospect. Instead of that self-focused head space that's so easily the default in business development. It takes a little extra time, but gaining insights and understanding can expedite your sales process. It will improve your close rate and most importantly, it will improve your relationship with your customer.

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