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Do You Know What Your Clients Really Need?
Ray Kinsella: So what do you want? Terence Mann: I want them to stop looking to me for answers, begging me to speak again, write again, be a leader. I want them to start thinking for themselves. I want my privacy. Ray Kinsella: No, I mean, what do you WANT? [Gestures to the concession stand they're in front of] Terence Mann: Oh. Dog and a beer. From the movie Field of Dreams (1989) All too often it seems I am stuck in this great scene from the movie Field of Dreams (one of my all time favorites) when I ask professional service providers what needs they fill for their clients. Me: So what do your clients need? Service Provider: They need an organizational assessment followed by an intensive training program. A six-stage customer research evaluation survey; a communications review. They need a detailed tax evaluation. They need a will. Me: No, I mean what do they NEED? Service Provider: Oh, profitability and a good night's sleep. The tendency is to think of what prospects need in terms of what services we have to offer. Even though we know prospects do not think of our service set, we retreat to the familiar in describing what we do in our marketing messages and sales conversations. As a result, we try to "convince" a prospect to buy our services. Meanwhile the prospect's eyes glaze over as her thoughts turn to her own worries and dreams, which usually have little if anything to do with the services listing we are babbling on about. We should never be selling anything when we talk with prospects about our services. Instead we should seek out conversations about their needs. When we hear a set of needs with which we can be of assistance, we can then offer to help. No hard sales pitch, just a connection of our skills and services with someone else's set of needs. So if prospects don't explicitly need our services, what do they need? Most of your prospects' needs can be broken down into organizational and personal. Both sets of needs drive prospects to seek your services. Organizational Needs What is the organization trying to accomplish or avoid? These can be categorized as:
Individual Needs What is influencing the individual or individuals who will decide to engage our services? These are the needs that are often unspoken and less obviously connected to our services. While you cannot always uncover these types of needs directly, by being aware of what may be going on, you can be alert to the obstacles that can keep you from connecting your services with your prospects needs.
Determining Your Client Needs Set So, how do you uncover your clients' true needs and position your services in a way that fulfills their organizational and individual needs? I suggest the following exercise to get you thinking about how your clients view your services and how you can define them in terms of your clients needs.
Think of all the clients you currently have. Why did they seek you out? What needs did they have that caused them to look for a service provider? Think about the last sales conversations you have had. How did your prospects speak about their needs? Try to use the words that your clients and prospects used, not the marketing speak you use to describe your services. On a flip chart, write all the needs that you have down the left hand side. On the right hand side, write the services you provide. Connect the needs to the services. Which ones satisfy the most needs? Are there any needs you have listed for which you have no services? Should you have those services? Develop the questions that will help you uncover these needs in future conversations. Continually refine and reshape your needs list as you engage new conversations and new clients. Repeat the process as needed.
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Article Tags: Business, Lead Generation, Customer Service, Business Strategy, Client Relationship Management Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/do-you-know-what-your-clients-really-need-24457.html About the Author:
John Doerr is a founder of RainToday.com and Principal of the Wellesley Hills Group, a consulting and marketing services firm that helps service companies to grow. John can be reached at jdoerr@whillsgroup.com.
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