I recently worked with a sales account manager who's sharp, enthusiastic and commercially astute ... I'll call him Paul for reasons of confidentiality!
He told me that one of his best customers had advised him that they'd been looking to use only two suppliers, but that having reviewed the options, they decided they would only use Paul. Paul was so pleased with this outcome that he forgot to ask why they'd made this decision.
Problem 1)
Without knowing why, Paul has missed a golden opportunity to learn what to avoid doing for this particular client and it's therefore possible that he could make the same mistakes in future that his competitors clearly made.
Problem 2)
He won't have learned what his customers view to be his greatest strengths ... so playing to them is merely guess work!
When we secure business, whoever it is, whatever the business and however we feel, we must remember to ask why.
Why did the customer choose to do business with us?
What do they like about us?
What do they dislike about our competitors?
It may seem like an obvious point to make, but in the heat of the moment, and particularly when we're winning lots of contracts, it's easy to forget. Furthermore, of the last purchases I have made on behalf of my business, none of the suppliers have asked me why I chose them. If they had, they might have learned something!
Thanks for reading
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