The last several weeks, we've discussed the urgent and the not urgent, the important and the not-important.

When doing so, we've been talking about your world - you, the business developer.

But you can greatly increase the value to your customers (and your potential customers) by paying attention to what they say is important and urgent to them.

This isn't as easy as it sounds, however, because what they say is important may not, upon inquiry, be quite so important; likewise, what they may say is urgent may in actuality not be quite so urgent.

So how do you get down to business and serve the customer? By taking the time to do five things:

1) Acknowledge and restate what the customer has told you.
2) Ask questions to determine what is truly important to them. Is it price, value, service, quality, appearance, social status, or something else?
3) How urgent is the customer's need, really?
4) Determine in a conversation whether your product or service will fit the bill.
5) Empower the customer to do business with you and place the order.

Obviously, you must use common sense. If the pipes have exploded, and water is everywhere, you can safely jump to Step #4! But if a customer wants a corporate website put up by tomorrow, there's more of an opening for an extended conversation. You simply can't buy into what the customer says as completely true; asking questions is the only way you, as a business developer, have for getting closer to the truth and completely serving the customer as well.

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Have a great week!

 

Chris Rasmussen

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Dan Kusner, President
Optimum Business Development, L.P.