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Are You Selling to Customers or Clients? | Consultitive Selling Skills

Written by Kendra Lee

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After the Pitch

Too often in traditional selling the sales pitch either succeeds or fails and the salesperson moves on to the next customer and the next pitch. In value creation selling the sales pitch is just another beginning, whether or not it succeeds. If the customer accepts your value proposition, perhaps with some modification, you have to be sure that it is not only delivered on time and as described, but that it fulfills the promises you made.

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{mosimage}Too often in traditional selling the sales pitch either succeeds or fails and the salesperson moves on to the next customer and the next pitch. In value creation selling the sales pitch is just another beginning, whether or not it succeeds. If the customer accepts your value proposition, perhaps with some modification, you have to be sure that it is not only delivered on time and as described, but that it fulfills the promises you made.

Chances are, however, that you'll leave the pitch meeting with a new list of objections, suggestions and impressions. The first thing to do is let the customer know you heard her objections and suggestions. A letter, an e-mail, or a telephone call that reiterates the objections and enumerates the suggestions your team made during the presentation will reassure the customer that you're still very interested in her business and will do everything you can to refine your offering. This communication should also set a specific date and time to meet again. To address specific objections or suggestions, the appropriate team members should reach the appropriate people in the customer's organization for elaboration or to ask specific questions.

This is a good time to seek more access. You can try to meet with the person you've identified as the decision maker to clarify her objections, or you could ask to visit with people who could explain specific areas of the customer's business. You might even offer to sign a confidentiality agreement to put the customer at ease. When Dennis Simon of XRoads made a proposal that didn't quite resonate with the customer, he followed up with a request to explore the logistic problem the customer was experiencing in China. The customer agreed to let the consulting team in, and based on what they learned, the team was able to shape a value proposition that was exactly what the company needed to improve its cycle time, cost structure, and market position.

In following up with the customer, you can change the scope of the value proposition, narrowing or expanding it as appropriate and resetting the customer's expectations. You might, for example, suggest a shorter-term contract to a customer who is skeptical that you can deliver, or shape a value proposition focused more on efficiency than on revenue growth if you learn that cash is a major concern. In one case, a consulting firm knew that a potential client wanted to brand its commodity products globally and created a value proposition to help the client meet that priority. During the assignment the firm learned that the client company lacked some of the capabilities it needed to meet that objective. Based on those additional insights into the customer's organization, the consulting firm altered its value proposition, and in so doing helped the customer build a brand in a small region -- something the firm knew would succeed. The firm then assembled the facts to show how the value proposition would be beneficial to the customer's business.

Subsequent pitches of the evolving value proposition take much the same form as the original pitch, but for obvious reasons they should be shorter and more focused on resolving specific objections or explaining the modifications made to the value proposition. Each reiteration of the value proposition should move the sales team and the customer closer to agreement while giving the sales team invaluable insight into the inner workings of the customer's decision-making process.

But not all sales pitches will end in success. If at the second or third sales meetings the customer is raising new objectives or finding excuses for not reaching a final agreement, the sales team should begin to question the customer's sincerity. The unfortunate truth is that some customers are not worth keeping.

The people we’re doing business with can easily sense if they’re being treated like a client or a customer. If we treat clients -- the people who should have our respect, attention and receive valuable input from us -- as if they’re only “placing orders” through us, we’ll fail as consultative sellers. And ultimately it’s the clients that make us all more successful.

How do you refer to the people you represent? Are they “clients” or “customers”? Or, perhaps you struggle with what you call them, and bounce back and forth from one term to the other, depending on what comes to mind first.

The terms may seem interchangeable, but for those who recognize the subtle distinctions, you may be leaving a wrong impression. This is important to know if you want to be perceived as a consultative seller to others. By not using the correct term in meetings, presentations or even casual conversation, you may be hurting your ability to get ahead with important clients.

I often find myself switching between these two terms, knowing I want all our prospects and clients to perceive me as a consultative partner to them rather than a vendor sales rep, yet uncertain I have “earned the right” to call them clients. But even before we’ve earned the right, don’t we need to act as if we have?

Remember that old adage, “dress for the position you aspire to”? I think this is a similar circumstance. We must not only treat our prospects and clients the way we always expect to treat them, but also speak of them as if they have already achieved that level.

From my perspective a client is a person whose business you have a vested interest in, and for whom you perform as a partner within their business. Not everything you provide is billable. And not every opportunity you are awarded was shopped with the competition for the best price.

You are a respected part of your client’s business. Every time you meet with your client, you bring a new idea. They value your expertise and recommendations, even seeking them out. While you want to be successful yourself, your primary objective is to make their business successful because you know your success stems from their success.

In contrast, customers are people who you help meet a need. They have a problem. You address the problem. You may invest long hours in determining the right solution. They may invest a great deal in purchasing the solution, but they don’t recognize the value of your recommendations. You don’t take time to present new ideas, perform quarterly review meetings, or call them spontaneously.

While you like customers as people, neither of you are investing in a long-term relationship. Customers may deal with a specific seller so long that a friendly relationship is established, but there is rarely a vested interest to the extent that a business partnership is established.

So, which would you rather have: clients or customers? Personally, I’d like every customer to be a client, because it means they respect the full value of what I can bring to them as a consultative seller, and what our organization can provide to their business. I have fun working with clients, and they enjoy working with me. We make each other successful.

The big question is: how do we turn customers into clients?

§ First, we change how we refer to them. They are clients.

§ Next, we examine why we aren’t doing those things for our customers that we do for our clients, like bringing a new idea to every meeting, helping them identify unique ways to address their strategic business objectives, or holding a project review meeting with their staff.

§ Finally, we change. We treat our customers like clients. If they don’t see the value after all our efforts, they may select different vendors. But then, they really weren’t our clients in the first place, were they?

Kendra Lee
		About the author:
		Kendra Lee is a top IT seller, sales advisor and business owner who knows how to shorten time to revenue in the SMB market in innovative ways. She is the author of the best selling book Selling Against the Goal: How Corporate Sales Professionals Generate the Leads they Need. Under Ms. Lee's direction her organization has assisted sellers in increasing referrals more than 328% in just 7 weeks, penetrating SMB markets in just 6 weeks, driving new client acquisition more than 31% year to year, and increasing annual revenue. .