On the other hand, customer knowledge is still underdeveloped and often underestimated in terms of sales development and customer loyalty. Many sales reps only question their prospects to find out about their current or potential level of equipment. They often consider that they know their customers well enough, and don 't need to conduct an in-depth discovery interview with them.
Customer knowledge is all too often passive, and much more rarely the fruit of proactive sales activity. CRM tools show that customer databases are often incomplete, while insufficient contact with sales staff is a frequent reason for customers to leave.
Why implement a customer-oriented sales approach?
While product knowledge remains fundamental, implementing a customer-focused sales approach is all about sales efficiency, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Thanks to better customer knowledge and the bond of trust created, the average value of contracts and conversion rates increase.
Cette évolution représente également un facteur fort d’épanouissement professionnel pour les équipes de vente, permettant de valoriser leur approche et d’apporter une valeur ajoutée très appréciée des clients. Un grand groupe européen d’assurance et de banque a ainsi choisi KESTIO pour l’accompagner dans son projet de déploiement d’une nouvelle démarche client. Ce projet représente un fort enjeu de développement commercial, de fidélisation client et d’amélioration de la contribution client.
How do you go about it?
1. To take an interest in your customer, you first need to prepare for the interview by analyzing the information available about them, which is usually formalized in the CRM tool. In the insurance and banking sectors, this means knowing exactly what the customer has at his disposal, both within the company and with competitors.
2. During the sales meeting, the customer approach also meansasking the customer exploratory questions, taking a genuine interest in them and their motivations, and thus going beyond what they spontaneously say. The search for the causes of the choices made or envisaged is considered as important as the type of equipment available (products or services purchased).
3. The proposal must be designed as a global customer solution, rather than as a succession of unrelated "in-house" products or services. In this way, it will start from the customer's needs and motivations, and be presented with a customer-oriented reading logic.
4. Finally, to position themselves in a customer approach, salespeople adopt an expert stance. His assertiveness enables him to establish a strong relationship of trust with his customer, and to help him make the right choices.
How do you roll out a customer approach to sales teams?
This kind of evolution in the sales approach calls for major changes in the sales teams. In this respect, the presentation of the project and the role of managers will be decisive in giving meaning, supporting and enabling employees to evolve positively in a new dimension of their profession.
This is why the transition from a product approach to a customer approach should be seen as a high-stakes change in practices, requiring support that integrates skills, tools, processes and organization.
As this approach is particularly structuring, it is built up over time, with the involvement and conviction of the entire sales management team.
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