OK, so here we are.
Sales off by 50% since this recession started, headcount down by 25% or more. Likely 25% of our suppliers are no longer with us and those that remain are in the same situation. If we only had the customers we could get back in the groove…..
The assessment is absolutely right yet does not yet get to the heart of the matter. Let’s go one layer deeper.
The old customers are no longer there, even if the people are there they now think differently, have different needs, and are under different pressures….The suppliers we have grown to trust have changed drastically. Maybe not from the outside but I can assure you they are different inside. Less experienced, more hurried, apt to look for new solutions rather than honor old relationships. To get back to where we once were, we have to double in size. And we are not going to add employees. You know it and you know why… Oh one last thing, all your competitors are in exactly the same situation. We have to grow by 100% quickly, not add people and not get out of control…
Demand for our product or service is the driver that lets everything else happen. Demand is the foundation of a thriving business. Demand creates the opportunity to make sales. Demand is what creates competitors. Demand is out there. Demand has to be discovered. To find demand one must be an explorer, a miner, a detective. Yes many of the skills are the same as a sales professional however the approach is different. In the demand discovery mode, we are not focused on delivering a product or service. We are focused on understanding how we can help someone else meet their needs. Because of this the communications are different and frankly some people just don’t get it. Imagine, as a customer not having to pick from options rather being able to explain your needs and have someone else work to meet them. If you work in a demand creation role, you are inventing solutions to someone else’s problems.
So for all those who don’t want to be in sales, relax demand creation is not sales. Sales has to be profitable, sales has to find a way to keep the work standard, sales has to find a way to play to our strength. Sales when done well, creates a backlog of work, fair profit margins, and long term happy customers. In the cycle of rinse, lather, repeat. The sales team is trying to repeat, repeat, repeat.
Demand Discovery is the business of finding markets, finding channels, discovering messages that will allow our business to communicate with particular types of customers. Demand Discovery is something that some businesses never had to do….imagine that. Demand Discovery is something that some businesses once knew had to do but after a while they got complacent and forgot …. Lots of sales can do that to you. Demand Discovery for some is a way of life …. These businesses continue to invent products, invent markets, re-invent themselves….. We know who they are.
After a recession, comes an expansion, kind of a law of nature thing. Expansion is the same as increased demand. That is easy. Knowing exactly what will be in demand that is the real question. What are these people looking for, what will they need, what will they buy. Just a few of the questions.
Bottom line, there are two ways to find out what is on the other side of the mountain. One is to sit here and wait for someone to send us a report. The other is to climb up and over and see for ourselves. Those who value Demand Discovery….have already left the building!
Good luck to all of you,
Preston
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