“Your customers are weird” ~my friend Michele
The fun thing is she isn’t wrong. I like people who think, work, and are different. A bit off center.
I’ve also have always enjoyed the challenge of mean prospects – partially because I don’t have feelings to hurt and there is less competition.
Which may be described by the idiom: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Which OF COURSE got me thinking of several ideas salespeople need to consider:
DON’T ONLY LOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO… LOOK LIKE YOU
It’s fun to have the same variety of apple that I am to work with: a little more tart and crispy than other people enjoy… I need to push myself to try other varieties and even look beyond apples for my prospects and customers.
Right now; check your customer list, is it full of people who are like you?
The problem is that there are a lot of people NOT like you in the world. Which means as salespeople we need to find ways to be considered valuable to them as well.
DETERMINE WHO NEEDS WHAT YOU DO
Start to list the things that make people buy from you. The most valuable tend to be the things you do as a person – almost without thought because of who you are.
Think of this as the gravity part of apples falling. People who need what you do will be drawn to working with you
WHAT DO YOUR FAVORITE CUSTOMERS LOOK LIKE
This goes beyond the people if you are in B2B sales, think about the corporate culture, personality, how they do business.
I always ask salespeople “what would your days look like if all your customers met your ideal customer criteria?” The sad thing is most of them haven’t figured out what those criteria are…
You should also have what your non-negotiables are – what will you not tolerate in a customer?
Maybe you don’t like apples at all and would do better in an orange grove than an orchard.
… of course all this may because I’m weird like my customers, as long as I’m still making money – I’ll stick with it!
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