A little more than 15 years ago, I adopted a golden retriever puppy named Max. After a month or two of feeling like I was walking a caffeinated cat, I decided to hire a trainer to help me. Within 15 minutes, he had Max trained to walk perfectly alongside him. I was blown away, but the trainer’s words were more impactful than his ability to calm Max. He explained that dogs want us to control their walks. They don’t want to be the leader – it causes stress. They’d rather have us lead them, but we must take the initiative.
Since Max, I’ve had two more dogs, Tucker and Bella. Today, Tucker is twelve and Bella is five... and they’re both fantastic walkers. My 2002 trainer’s words have stuck with me, and I think about them almost every time we go for walks. Once I take control by lightly tugging the leash at the beginning, they calm down and begin to walk in cadence beside me. Sometimes I think they’re smiling. However, when my four-year-old daughter wants to walk Tucker, he takes charge and doesn’t seem happy. Sometimes he stops to look at me and I swear he’s thinking: “Come on man, would you please take control of this situation.”
Customers have the same needs. They want to be guided and led to providing the best technology for their organizations. They want someone to help them be smarter and better at their jobs, and they’d rather not have to learn from the limitless bits of information on the Internet. They want a “guy” (i.e. an expert, male or female).
When is the last time you thought about an existing customer’s possible problems, set an appointment with them, and brought the idea to them? Not a general thought, but actually sat down and said something like: “We’ve seen a lot of facilities like yours having xyz issues, and I’d like to show you an idea to make sure it doesn’t happen here.” For those customers where you have a long-term relationship, your statement can be as easy as: “Hey, I want to show you something. You free on Tuesday morning?”
If you’re a sales person for a manufacturer, bring ideas to your VARs. Help them with methods of getting in the door of new prospective clients. Don’t just stop in to see how things are going or ask about this month’s sales. Lead them.
Action plan: Pick one idea that is easy for you to share with your existing customers, and likely something that will benefit most of them. Next week, go show it to three of them. It can be three of your closest customers, but get out there and lead them.
BTW, I just instructed you to treat you customers like dogs… not sure if you caught that or not.
