Heads up: Customer thinking has changed in five major ways.
- Customers are more knowledgeable. The Internet has made them more knowledgeable and their buying decisions are more analytical. They base their purchasing decisions on the strengths of a vendor’s solutions to their needs.
- Customers expect service that goes beyond on-time deliveries and good communication. Great service now requires becoming a valuable resource for customers. They expect salespeople to offer advice and information that will help them meet or exceed their own customer needs.
- Customers look beyond immediate results. They want to do business with companies who take time to learn their business and come up with new and innovative ideas.
- Customers look for information. Companies that are able to provide information that saves their customers time and effort have the best chance of establishing long-term relationships.
- Customers want to deal with salespeople who take their problems personally. They won’t deal with salespeople who ignore their problems or take too long responding to them.
Adapted from the book “Sell Yourself First,” by Thomas Freese, founder and president of QBS Research, Inc.
