Your Value To Your Customer

Most companies have a value proposition. They have some product(s) or service(s) that they believe will benefit their customers. While this value proposition is a great thing to be able to articulate, it isn’t what your real value to your customer is or should be. The customer, on the other hand, wants to believe that they will see value from those products or services. But is that what they really want? My experience is that the value that they see comes more from how you do business with them rather than the actual product or service you’re providing.

The key is to go beyond a value proposition statement and do what you can to help the customer solve their problems. So how do you do that? To begin with, your value begins by getting to know your customer. Get to know them deeply. Know what they do, why they do it, and how they do it. Know what their strategic plan is; learn what their problems are. Many of the problems you can help solve are based in them getting from where they are to achieving their goals. Knowing those goals and why they are important is key here, and will differentiate you from the competition that doesn’t try to understand them.

To do this you have be in there talking with them. Find out what they are trying to do and why. Be an Excellent Listener. Try to get to know their problems before they become a business opportunity. Help shape the way they want the solution to look. For this to happen it will require an investment of your time so that you can understand what they are trying to solve.

The truth is that what customers really want are partners that can help them solve problems. They have plenty of vendors trying to sell them something. So what this really means is that you must move beyond the transactional sale of a product or service and become a business partner and a trusted agent. If you are able to do that then you will increase Your Value To Your Customer.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2015 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

How Often Should I Be Coaching My People?

As leaders of any type we should all know that our people are out most important asset. They are the ones that really do the work that makes our businesses successful. And we need to groom and develop them so that they are able to succeed in their job. This can be done by effective coaching and mentoring. We’re not just talking about their job performance, we’re also talking about grooming your next generation of leaders. Bench strength is usually discussed in terms of people with skill sets that you might need for work requirements. There is also a bench strength that the vast majority of companies don’t think about – the leadership bench. In addition to coaching your people on their job performance, you should also be coaching and grooming those that are being looked at to move into leadership roles. And the time to do that is not after they have role (although they’ll need it then too), it should be done before they get it. So how often should you be coaching your people? A lot of it depends on what their role is.

How Often Should I Coach? This can depend on the number of people you have. With all the other demands on your plate it may not be able to be done as frequently as some would suggest. My recommendation is to try to get 30 minutes with them once per week. Although, after some time I have found that most meetings usually drop to 15-20 minutes when things are going well. But keep the time open for each person in case you need it. Coaching is more effective if it is timely so having regularly scheduled meetings allows you to be more effective by providing guidance in a more opportune manner. If you have more than about 8 people directly reporting to you then you may want do something more reasonable by meeting with each of them every two weeks. This can be done in person (which is preferable) or over the phone if the situation does not lend itself to a face-to-face meeting. This should work for most people in most roles.

By coaching I do not mean bringing in the Spanish Inquisition. What they need is an honest assessment of their performance, and for you to ascertain what challenges they are facing that may be inhibiting their ability to do their job more effectively and efficiently. The coaching needs to be two-way and it needs to be reinforced. Refer my post on Excellent Listening. Try to apply that to coaching as well. In addition, coaching needs to be supportive and not something that they dread. You are there to lead them. And you are there to make sure that they have what they need to do the job they are doing for you.

I discovered a long time ago that when the people that worked for me felt like they had a valued role in the success of the organization that they would usually go the extra mile to make that organization successful…willingly. Go take care of your people.

So, how often are you coaching your people?

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Be an Excellent Listener

We live in a world where there are many demands on our time. That is true not only for you, but for your customers and colleagues, too. 

These time demands mean that it can be harder to get meetings with customers. 

So when you do get in front of your customers (or colleagues) it is important not to waste their time, or yours. There is a reason for the meeting so have a plan on how to accomplish those objectives. 

In any meeting there is ideally an information exchange. And hopefully that goes both ways. 

To make sure you get the information you need from the meeting you must learn to be an Excellent Listener.

Some meetings are really product or service presentations. For those meetings you will be talking more than listening. 

In those cases I recommend allowing 25-30% of the allotted time for discussion. 

You want to make sure the customer understands what you’ve presented and be able to address any questions.

Most meetings, however, are about gathering information from a customer or potential customer. You are listening for a customer to express their needs and/or issues. 

For these types of meetings, and for the discussion part of a presentation, here are some recommendations on how to be an Excellent Listener:

•    Be prepared. Not knowing what you want to get or a plan on how to get it will not be helpful, and it will waste everyone’s time. Have a call plan and use it.
•    Remove distractions. Turn off your phones or put them on silent. Give them your full attention. Make them feel like you value their time.
•    Don’t talk too much to make a point. Make the point, look for acknowledgement, and move on. Learn to be comfortable with silence too.
•    Get confirmation on what the customer says. It reinforces your memory and lets them know you’re listening.
•    Unless you’re giving a presentation, you shouldn’t provide more than 60% of the data exchanged. But in most instances I prefer to think of it another way: you have two ears and one mouth so use them in that proportion in the meeting. 
•    The more you let the customer talk, the more you will learn.
•    And lastly, follow up. Whether it is to confirm the meeting outcome or to ask for additional information/clarification, follow up with them.

Being an Excellent Listener makes your customer feel like they are more than just a sale. It makes them feel like there is more of a partnership. 

And being an Excellent Listener may also lead to the following:

•     Better customer satisfaction
•     More effective information sharing
•     Better understanding
•     Better results

For more information about how The Cobalt Group can help you with any business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.