The
Blissfully Ignorant
“Hey, I don’t
face the problem you claim I might.”
What a start! Time to provoke and probe (in that
order). In a B2B sales scenario, rarely do customers acknowledge their problems.
If it did not keep them awake at night, why would they accept the meeting
request in the first place! Denial of the problem is the first sign that the
discussion needs to start from first principles – how profitable is your company versus industry peers; are you satisfied
with your operational efficiency; do you foresee this problem when your company
grows?
Prophecy
– This person might not really be the right one to
talk to; nonetheless now that I drove an hour for the meeting, let me at least get
some internal references.
The
Ostrich
“Aah!, I
already solved that problem!”
Really? How did you do that? Did you deploy professional
solutions or utilize internal resources to solve it? Is it working? I am sure
it is to some extent, the more pertinent question though is to what extent. And
would it continue to solve the problem when your business scales?
Prophecy
– This one’s going to be a tough nut to crack.
Competing with an existing solution is never easy; even tougher if it is an
internally developed one, given the organizational emotions attached with it.
Not a completely lost cause yet; let me find some competitive information and
convince the customer of the merits of our solution.
The
Eternal Shrugger
“I do face
these problems, but I do not have the budget to solve them.”
Hmmm! So the customer is interested in listening,
and wants me to build his case to request his management for funding.
Prophecy
– This one’s going to be a long discussion,
interspersed with many seemingly devil’s advocate role-plays. I’d better know
my value proposition perfectly. Time to pull out my ROI calculations and case
studies.
The
Astute Deflector
“Your solution
sounds good, but my industry is different.”
All right. So you need a case study specific to your
industry.
Prophecy
– This one knows the solution category, so it’s going
to be an uphill task convincing why mine would work in his industry, even if we
haven’t implemented it in the same. It will probably end up scheduling another
meeting with our Application Expert.
The
Perfect Target
“Here are my
challenges. How can you help?”
Utopia! Why didn’t I find this person earlier! More
than glad to help.
Prophecy
– Isn’t it obvious?
Reflection – Is there a brotherhood of such people?
Maybe I should check LinkedIn.
And the next one takes the cake; trust me this one
is as true as others:
The
Veterans Club
“So
which B-School did you graduate from?”
Probably applies only to me or similar body
structured individuals (lean, short, <5 ft. 6 inches)!
Reading between the lines – This customer is not
happy that I came alone, without any seniors accompanying me to such an
“important” meeting.
Prophecy
– This meeting might not go anywhere.
