If there is one thing that every human being on the planet is faced with it’s our thinking, our psychology and the conditioning of our mind and held beliefs. These beliefs of ourselves, others and our abilities can enable and empower us for success. They can also stop us from achieving greatness and pollute those around us.
It’s important to recognise that our held beliefs are what determines the extent of our results in all areas of our life. They’re like the image of cogs in our minds setting a pattern of automated behaviour that produces a subset of results. We get frustrated when we don’t always get the results we want. We then often make excuses and I can be guilty of this as well. Excuses are a form of belief and in sales and account management this is no different.
Today I want to challenge two possible held beliefs that might be holding your team back from experiencing explosive customer sales results.
I need to make my customers happy so they’ll stay
This for me is one of the most dangerous held beliefs because it immediately takes an unequal position. It’s important to recognise that the customer and partner/supplier relationship should be about mutual and equal value. If that is not the case then it isn’t a relationship that is healthy or sustainable. If making your customers happy is an end goal then you’re unlikely to make progress. Happiness is circumstantial and it’s impossible for you to always make your customer happy. Sometimes they’ll just be upset, frustrated and stressed because of their business and that’s just being human.
Your customer’s internal desire is not for you to make them happy it’s to make them feel safe.
Your customer being happy is a by-product of the actions you take to deliver on the results they expect and you’ve promised. You can feel liberated to know you don’t have to take on the responsibility of making any customer happy. You can act out of empathy and not fear.
Happiness by nature is a form of contentment and has no urgency or energy to act or produce. It’s unlikely to produce anything more than the same results or less. Instead of trying to make your customers happy we should seek to deepen trust and create excitement. More trust activates openness and possibility. Excitement activates energy, movement and expectation. When you focus on these qualities you shift yours and your customer’s behaviour to one that is present and future focused. As long as you continue to deliver on your promises and own your failures you’ll be investing in a healthier and more fruitful relationship.
I need to create more value to convince them were great
There is a big danger in sales that we can get caught in an unhealthy perspective of how, when and why we should give and create value for our customers. The question you should ask yourself today is:
Why do you think you need to add or create value for your customers?
Have a look at your answer and then ask: “Is this answer about my customer or about me and my company?” If it’s about you then you might need to re consider your beliefs around this. If you already have a customer then they’ve already seen some level of value and were willing to open their wallets and pay for your product or service.
Creating and adding value to your customers should never be about trying to re convince them that you’re good enough. Creating value should be because you care and it’s an expression of who you are and what you do.
The difference between the two is huge. Creating value to convince says you really haven’t understood the purpose of creating more value and you don’t fully believe in the value your service or product is creating for your customer. When you look at creating value as something you do because you care about your customers it changes everything. Caring really isn’t spoken about in business but it is a powerful force that brings creativity, positivity and intentionality. Those account management teams and businesses that embrace caring for their customers will always produce value far superior to their competitors.
