There are still those who believe that something will stick if you toss enough stuff against the wall. John Graham believes that we fail to ask ourselves the right question, the one that defines the marketing and sales mission.
While defining the geographical parameters of a client’s primary market area, I was waiting for the vendor to resist. It didn’t take long. He suggested that we go far and wide and then narrow the focus at a later date. A larger market area means more hits, something that would make the vendor look good. But here’s the question: Is what’s good for the vendor necessarily good for the client?
It’s all too easy to be seduced by numbers. There are still those who believe that something will stick if you toss enough stuff against the wall. Who says? How can you be so sure? More doesn’t necessarily mean better. The “we need more customers” mentality is generally wrong. What’s needed is more of the right customers. Company executives often complain about a paucity of large accounts at the same time that they’re pressuring the sales force to write more business. Quick sales almost always come from smaller accounts, while large accounts require a longer lead time.
If large accounts are your goal, you need a plan to develop them. Almost without exception, the salespeople who land the big ones will say, “I’ve been working on that for two years” — or longer.
Saying that you had 122 people at a seminar, received 258 e-mail responses, or were handed 567 business cards at a trade show is, in itself, totally meaningless and irrelevant.
For the most part, we fail to ask ourselves the right question, the one that defines the marketing and sales mission — that sets the stage for success. The question goes something like this: “Who do we want to do business with if we had the opportunity — and why?” It can be relatively easy to say who we would like to have as customers; but it’s the “why” that separates the amateurs from the pros, the lazy from the diligent.
There are a number of possible answers:
We have experience in the industry.
They fit the profile of companies that we work with now.
They need the solutions we offer.
They’re dissatisfied.
If you can answer the “why” question satisfactorily, you’re on your way!