In the start-up stage, entrepreneurs are often jacks of all trades out of necessity. However, once a company has grown to the point where it recruits qualified employees from among competing candidates, it’s time for Jack (or Jill) to recognize that he may no longer be the most qualified person for every job. job. This can be a costly lesson to learn when trying to sell an expensive product or contract to a prestigious prospect. In this case study, a founder learned the hard way that the leads his company was selling now used a rigid, formal selection process, not the informal process he had used to win his first customers.
This is one in a series of case studies highlighting “Key Questions and Course Correction Quotes” taken from 20 years of B2B customer insight projects. All names are fictitious, but the situations are real. Case studies paint a picture of how important it is to know what your B2B customers think, but they don’t say it. These are real-world examples of how asking for and acting on customer feedback has helped companies retain customers longer, grow relationships, and win new business faster.
Case Study: Don’t Bring a Nerf™ Bat to a Knife Fight!
Key question: “You made it to the final submission, but you weren’t selected. What did the sale cost you?”
Course correction quote:
Executive: “I don’t know who that clown was that made the final presentation, but he kept going off on a wild tangent. We couldn’t follow his presentation. He didn’t follow the format we gave everyone. The other vendors were clear about how their products meet our needs. This man focused on what he wanted to tell us, not what we asked to hear.”
My client when:
This loss took the seller by surprise. What had gone wrong? When he loses a sale, it’s smart to know why. You don’t want to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. The “clown” the customer mentioned was the founder of the vendor. This would have been a prestigious account, so the founder made the final presentation himself. He was convinced that only someone who really knew the product should do the final pitch. A skilled technician but an unsophisticated salesperson, the founder went into detail about one feature after another. He was well-acquainted with the product’s features, but the prospectus selection committee only wanted to hear about the specific benefits. The prospect chose a provider who adhered to the format, was clear and persuasive about the benefits the committee asked about, had good references, and was priced in line with the other quotes.
Conclusion:
As they say, “Don’t bring a Nerf™ bat to a knife fight.” If your sales depend on winning a competitive selection process, hire salespeople who know how to follow an agenda in a formal sales presentation, or hire a presentation coach to work with your team.
I classify projects as assessments, investigations, scavenger hunts, or rescue missions. This project was an investigation. The customer’s question was: “How did we lose the sale when we had the best product?”
If you have a superior product, invest in superior sellers. Don’t assume your prospects know enough about your product or service to recognize quality. Good salespeople are effective even when selling mediocre products, and your competitors may have very good salespeople. Invest in people who know how to feed prospects what they want know, and who can tell prospects what need knowing how to separate the marketing hype from the substance.