Author of
The Gauntlet
When your customer comes to believe that you understand their business, and care about its success, then you’re on your way to building an enduring relationship.
Their belief is grounded in your proven delivery of solutions that create value for them, solutions that resolve a short-term need while contributing to the achievement of their longer-term goals. Thisenables your solutions to become investments in their future rather than one-time transactions.
Ensuring that your solutions create value rests on your ability to propose alternative ways for your customer to achieve their desired outcome, and then facilitating their evaluation of these options to help them choose which works best for them. This process may take longer than you’d prefer, but it builds trust.
Proposing alternative solutions offers these benefits:
1. Your customer’s control over the purchase process is strengthened. The promise of choice increases the likelihood that your customer will find their best solution, minimizing their purchase risk and boosting their satisfaction with their decision.
2. Proposing alternatives makes you more partner than peddler. Rather than pitching just one solution to your customer, discussing optional ways forward helps your customer clarify what they value most, while enabling you to demonstrate your knowledge about their business and commitment to its success. Investing the extra time to discover what your customer values also coveys your respect for the relationship versus a focus on getting the order as quickly as possible.
3. Exploring options provides the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise. Evaluatingalternative recommendations with your customer helps you learn why resolving a specific need is important for them, how doing so contributes to their goal achievement and progress. It’s aforum for you to demonstrate how your expertise and broad array of proven solutions can help achieve their goals while resolving their need, thus creating value for them.
Customers value options. Engaging your customer in the exploration of 2, or at the most 3 alternatives, accelerates the purchase decision and improves the customer’s satisfaction with that decision. Then, to preserve the relationship, all you have to do is fulfill your promise.
How frequently do you propose alternative ways to resolve a customer’s need?
