Industry snapshot: What is Your Customer’s Buying Process?

Since revenue is the heart of any business, we often find ourselves at the center of understanding our clients’ sales process. Most of the time, business people tend to look at this process from the perspective of their company— “what do we do to move the potential customer to an eventual sale?” But to be truly effective, it is better to think about the process from the customer’s perspective—“what does the prospect need in order to decide to buy from us?”

David Skok at Matrix Partners tells an unforgettable story about his experience at an early computer-aided design software company. When they started out, they had a nine-month sales process. Potential buyers didn’t trust the software, didn’t understand how to use it, and felt threatened by it. It was a battle to win every customer. Then, the company thought about their sales process from the customer’s perspective. They organized a one-day seminar that had everything a prospect could want: a great demo, satisfied customers to share their own experiences, and banks to help finance the software. The company did $3.5 million in sales that day, compared to $4 million for the entire year prior to that moment. He says that the only mistake they made was that they didn’t bring enough order forms. Talk about working smarter, not harder…

Are you doing the best job helping your customer through their own buying process? 2005