Hey guys, this is Steli Efti with Close.io.
Today I want to talk about the three levels of customer needs or prospect needs.
A lot of times when I talk to sales people and companies that are trying to grow their
sales force, when we're diving into the way that they're qualifying prospects, and the
way they identify the needs of a buyer, of a potential buyer, oftentimes when I poke
them to hear a little bit more about tactics or the way that they elicit more information,
elicit understanding from their customers or prospective buyers...
all I hear is, you know, the customer needs that they hear, that they are asking for,
on a very high level.
So there's basically three levels of customer needs: the first one, if you're selling to
other businesses...
the first one is the overarching company needs.
Then the second are the department needs or group needs that you're selling into.
And the third one is the individual needs.
The person that you're trying to sell to.
The individual decision maker that's about to purchase your product or service.
So you have to consider all three levels of needs.
The company, the department and the individual.
And most of the time when I talk to sales people and companies that are selling, they
are only asking about the overarching company needs.
So they tell me: So we know exactly what our potential customers' needs are, we asked them
about the company goals, the priorities they have for the next couple of quarters, and
kind of the... all kinds of things that are really relating only to the company layer
and level, and not to the department or individual level.
So let's go through these three levels in a little bit more detail to illustrate what
I really mean when I talk about customer, department and individual needs.
So the company needs are things like overarching revenue, retention, big kind of strategic
initiatives like launching a massive new product or feature.
Things like competitors, like if there is something very strategic going on against
or for a competitor that's going on.
Fundraising needs...
all these kind of very large scale things that affect the entire business.
Those are company needs, and things that you need to know about and should consider as
you're trying to sell your service or product to them.
But one level below where we talk about department needs, here it's a little bit more differentiated.
Right?
So department needs can be things like specific KPIs that the department is measured against.
It can be strategic initiatives that the department has to deliver.
Projects that the department has to fulfill or ship to a certain point in time... but
it also can relate to certain kinds of politics.
How does this department relate to other departments.
Is there a kind of internal war or competition going on?
Are there certain changes in the management of these departments or that specific department?
What kind of politics are going on, what kind of power struggles are going on?
All these things can be really useful information to really understand the kinds of needs that
that department has, the constraints, the challenges, the problems it tries to solve.
And then on a even lower level, on a third level, the deepest level basically, its all
about the needs that your individual buyer has.
The person within the department, within the organization or company that ultimately going
to make the buying decision, or champion to purchase your solution, or champion the buying
process internally.
So that person's goals...
yes, I mean there is career goals, there is certain goals of goals of deliverable that
that person has in their position... but there can also be broader goals and needs that you
want to include and think about.
Like that person's family goals and live goals and personal goals and career goals...
you know, it could be things that they're trying to accomplish in the next few years
within the company or it can be things that they are trying to accomplish beyond the company.
It can be the things they are afraid of or the things that they are hopeful about.
So there is a lot of individual needs that will play into the actual decision making
of buying your product.
So in an ideal scenario, when you are selling, especially the larger the deal size is, meaning,
the more time you can actually spend to really understand the buyer, in an ideal scenario
you will understand your buyer on all three levels.
You will know the company overarching goals and needs.
You will know the department goals and needs and constraints.
You will know the individuals goals and needs.
If you understand these three layers, you're going to be a lot more effective in selling
to them, understanding when there are roadblocks and why and how to overcome them.
And ultimately help individual buyers, as well as the department and the overarching
company hopefully to accomplish all their needs and goals with your solution, your support
once they buy from you.
So, what if you don't have the time to learn all these things and go very deep on all three
layers, well, in an ideal scenario if you can only choose one, you would want to understand
the individual first and foremost.
I did an interview a little while ago with Gary Vaynerchuk.
We talked about entrepreneurial salesmanship.
It's an awesome video, you can search for it on YouTube, and I hope you'll enjoy it,
but one thing that really struck me as profound was that I asked Gary, you know:
How do you go from selling wine to individual consumers to selling social media campaigns
to massive brands.
Fortune 500 companies, what has been the difference in the transition of selling to individual
consumer a bottle of wine versus selling to like a CMO, you know, hundreds and hundreds
of thousands worth of social media marketing campaigns.
And you know what he said?
There is no difference whatsoever.
He always sells to the individual.
He doesn't give a shit about Coca Cola or BMW, he always sells to, you know, Bob or
Marie or you know, whoever that is.
He always sells to the individual in front of him.
And he doesn't believe that there is this concept of a corporation, he doesn't sell
to Coca Cola or Walt Disney, he sells to Linda.
And I think that's a pretty profound thought and probably one of the many reasons why he
is so successful in what he does.
So, try to sell on all three layers: company, department and individual.
But if you have to choose one, choose the individual versus going with what most people
do - which is the easiest level, which is the company.
Because it' easy for people to talk about the company goals versus their own personal
goals.
It takes a little bit more trust, it takes a little bit more salesmanship.
It takes a little bit more humanity to actually connect with somebody on a level where they
open up and they talk to you about their own needs and goals, versus talking about the
company, which is this complex construct of all these people and all these...
you know, this is something very, very theoretical versus like something that is truly personal.
But hence, why the more personal one is the more valuable one, and probably the one that
your competitors will have no clue about.
So think about all three levels of your customers and prospects needs, and if you have to choose
one, choose the personal one.