Almost every sales training also includes a discussion about the fact that one should also understand how one’s own customers address and satisfy their customers. Often, this closest circle of customers has ideas and needs that one can influence oneself as a supplier. Now, in the age of digitalisation and disruption, this connection is even more important than ever before. If the customer of the customer focuses on the functionality and less on the product, suddenly completely different elements could be in demand. So it’s important to have your ear on the ground.
The best thing, of course, is to have such a good relationship with your customers that they involve you as a partner in the discussions with the next customers. Then you become part of the design and creation process. Not only can you then exert influence and ensure that your own offer is used; you can also hear very early on whether there are changing needs that require you to adapt your own offer. Like an early warning system, research and development as well as production optimization can be controlled in that way. Of course, this requires that the right topics are discussed in the sales pitch. And this requires that the salesperson is actually addressing the right topics. And this in turn requires the salesperson to be involved in internal meetings where such topics could be discussed.
Strategic involvement of the sales force
Is your organization designed like that? How close is your management to your customer’s customer? Are they perhaps already thinking about other concepts? For example, if you are in logistics, is the customer’s customer already thinking about drones? Or via mega stores outside the cities, with onward transport in small electric vehicles? Will they then possibly already be looking for trucks that are and can be much larger because they no longer have to travel to the cities? Or are you perhaps more interested in packaging? How does a product have to be packaged if it is transported with a drone? What influence does the ability to print the product that the customer’s customer needs in 3D have on your products? As you can see, with the multitude of possible options, the seller cannot ask too many questions. The more information the market collects, the better. Of course, you can get a lot of information in the form of finished analyses via the Internet. Nevertheless, the seller also has a role to play. How do you put him in a position to do so? That’s what I would like to show you!