Seth Godin recently blogged about how you have to be careful about how much importance you put on the noise you hear on the Internet. Loud does not necessarily equal important. You have to consider the source and evaluate whether what you are hearing is a harbinger of a movement or just someone sounding off.
Seth summed it up with:
"And most of all, get straight on who you are trying to please, and why."
That's the key, right there. You can't really evaluate the noise until you know what matters to you and your customers. So, who exactly is your customer? If you know that, you can more easily filter the noise and extract the relevant messages. It is just as important to understand who your customer is when you look at the incoming noise as it is to know who they are when you start making noise yourself (i.e. marketing).
If you are a business owner who gets stressed out by prospects who reject your offer because of price, features, or some other failing to meet the prospect's requirements, I have good news: they were never your customers anyway.
If you can't close the deal because of a gap between your offer and the prospect's requirements, and neither you nor your prospect is willing or able to compromise enough to close that gap, then the prospect you are talking to is simply not a qualified customer. There's no point to getting stressed about it. Just note the customer's objections for potential future enhancement of your offer and move on, keeping in mind that not every demand is reasonable.
It is perfectly reasonable to end a conversation with a prospect with "I understand what you are looking for, and I'm sorry to say that it just isn't a good match with what we offer. I wish you the best of luck in finding what you need. If you are ever interested in taking another look at our offering, I'd be happy to speak with you again about it."
I’m not saying to just give up when a prospect asks for something you don't offer. I'm saying that you have to know when you encounter an unbridgeable gap and accept it. I know of salespeople who would shudder in response to this philosophy, but these are salespeople I wouldn't want working for me.
The last thing you want to do is acquire customers who are unhappy with the sale because your offering doesn't really meet their requirements. I promise you that they'll make a bunch of noise, and it won't be good for your business.
Posted by James Byrd, Vice President
posted @ Saturday, December 06, 2008 8:07 AM