Think About It… the e-book version

by Todd Youngblood

I sure hope so…

Take a close look at the type of customer issues you’re wrestling with. Does your customer trust you with the BIG problems? Or do they keep you busy working on other, less strategic projects?

Most sales reps, most of the time are assigned by their customers to fixing “shopping” problems. If you find yourself winning deals because of your ability get the right price and delivery, you’re reacting to solving problems that have already been defined. The customer tells you “I need an X,” and depend on you to get it. If this is you, it’s time to get a promotion from your customer.

The traditional sales job requires a great amount of product knowledge. Knowledge that your customers don’t have. At this level, you find yourself matching up the right combination of product and service features, functions and specifications with problems the customer has defined for you. They tell you “I need something that can do X,” and depend on you to figure out what can do that. You’re still reacting. If this is you, it’s time to get a promotion from your customer.

Maybe customers depend on you to help them “do things right.” They look for you to be pro-active in helping to figure out ways to solve operational problems and/or to make their operations more efficient. At this level you find yourself regularly dealing with people who carry titles like Manger of This or Director of That. You might even occasionally get a chance to present to a VP. You’re not just reacting anymore, but you’re stuck working in the present, on existing problems. If this is you, it’s time to get a promotion from your customer.

“Doing the right things” is the domain of the functional Vice President. Operational results are still quite important to these folks, but they are much more concerned with cash flow and with the future; with how all the different parts of their organization work with and affect all the other parts; with decreasing the true total cost of all those parts and their interactions; with increasing the future value of what those parts produce. Your input is sought to help ensure continued success, efficiency and effectiveness, and, most importantly with improved cash flow. If this is you, I’m impressed, but it’s still time to get a promotion from your customer.

The genuinely professional sales rep is working on the customer’s long-term future and on improving their Income Statement and Balance Sheet. He or she thinks like a stockholder, an owner. This rep’s input is sought in the context of increasing shareholder value and making the best, long-range investment decisions.

Are you “valued” by your customers? You probably are, but is that good enough? Wouldn’t if be better if your customers were giving you regular “promotions?”