You’re Going the Wrong Way
This morning I was in a sales meeting when a role play broke out. Listening to the questions and answers, I thought, “You’re going the wrong way!”
It makes me laugh. The Planes, Trains, and Automobile‘s movie clip, not the role play. The role play was hard to listen to, but instructive. It went a long way toward explaining a recurring comment as I scroll through their CRM notes. A variation of, “The client will let us know about the next project.”
When the prospect or client says, “The next time we have a project I’ll call,” it’s a sure sign that we’ve been going the wrong way. We’re focused on the transaction, not the value the client gets from working with us.
When that happens, it’s not too late to change direction. We can still work on the transition from service provider to peer. Transitioning into something more vital to the client. Being thought of in terms like, “next time I get the strategy team together, I need to include you somehow. . .” That would be better.
The place to start? Picking up the phone and asking about their future. “I know you have plans and I want to hear about them. I don’t need your company’s detailed five year strategy, but I would like to know, if you could accomplish one thing this year, what is it?”
It’s a start.