Empathy is great … and we need sales
The world is different, and the world is the same. The way we position ourselves to, and communicate with prospects is both different and evolving. As we’ve spoken in this blog series, the concepts of empathy, humanity, and authenticity illuminate the way.
Now, let’s talk about something that hasn’t changed — the need for sales. The way to get there is by understanding value.
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Warren Buffett
Value is what prospects and customers are looking for and what they will buy. They are looking to solve problems, not pay for seats.
Value can only be bestowed by your prospect or customer. It’s their perception of the importance, the worth, and the efficacy of your product, solution, or widget. It’s not yours. It’s closely tied to satisfaction and is not based on hourly rates.
Here’s an important example of value that we’ve mentioned before. While interviewing a business leader for a B2B research project, we asked what she thought was the greatest value or benefit they got from Company A. She said, our salesperson. He’s part of the team.
Think about it for a second. That’s a clear expression of value from a customer, and a clear path to increasing customer lifetime vale.
As we said, only prospects and customers get to define value. They will do so in a dialog which is rooted in empathy. We can learn exactly what they’re looking for, and how we can become partners in getting them there.
Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice. Anton Chekhov
The inescapable first step is true persona research to reveal your prospects and customers as talented, experienced, professional people doing their level best to navigate the decision making process awash in a sea of change. Sweeping generalizations are easier, but yield minimal return.
Empathy begets conversations that yield more knowledge, and eventually trust and deepening discussions of value. That is often the “aha” moment we’re all looking for, and it makes the cash register ring.
