Spot Them and Minimize Their Power
In a perfect sales world all your customers are loyal, purchase frequently, are profitable, and refer others to you. There’s no such thing as a perfect sales world. Instead, there are problem customers whose actions cause you stress and lost business. You can spot them and minimize their power over your business.
Who are your problem customers?
It’s not too hard to spot them once they cause problems. Then you dread making sales calls and working with them. It’s important to recognize what they are doing that makes them problem customers.
During sales calls they say they are going to do something, but then they don’t do it. Or their actions become continuously delayed. You hear, “I’m working on it,” but the results never come. What is even worse is when you are negotiating with a customer and you both reach agreement to the terms you discuss. You think the negotiation is concluded when you say, “if I do this, you will buy” and they say yes. But then, they reopen negotiations to ask for more. I never fault anyone for asking, but that’s when you know you have a problem customer.
The worst problem customers are the disloyal ones. They work with your competitors unbeknownst to you. You are now vulnerable to losing your business when that happens. Ouch!
Do not miss the clues of problem customers.
You become aware of problem customers when you notice their actions and effort mismatch their statements and promises. Be better prepared to identify problem customers if you triangulate.
In the military, “triangulation” refers to a method of determining an enemy’s position or location by taking measurements from multiple vantage points. This essentially creates a triangle with the target at its apex, allowing for a more precise understanding of its location by combining data from different angles. Triangulation is primarily used for navigation and targeting purposes on the battlefield. You can triangulate in sales, too.
Triangulate by having more than one contact at your customers and preferably at different levels of the organization. Someone on the production floor sees different things than someone in accounting. You need to have both points of view. My triangulation in the oil business often depended on maintenance staff who told me whose new drums of oil were in inventory in the back of the plant. New drums meant a possible new product evaluation which made my existing business vulnerable. Purchasing would never tell me about a new supplier.
The maintenances staff were also critical to approve the effectiveness of new products. Yes, they let their preference for salespeople influence whether the new products worked or not. This shouldn’t surprise you. Sales is a people business.
What can you do?
Build more relationships now if you have few customer contacts or if they are all at the same level. You can ask for introductions because you want to be sure your work is helping everyone. It’s also especially important to demonstrate and quantify your value. Quantify your value now if you notice competition at your customer.
Your superior, proven value along with your relationships make it harder for this problem customer to pick your competitor over you. You also put your problem customer on notice that you’re not the salesperson to sabotage. Let him pick someone else to replace.
It’s always an option to prevent problem customers. You’re already doing it when you build customer relationships and demonstrate value.