Any salesperson can give you a high-level breakdown of the sales process, and some can break into each step with more detail. However, I have found that the really top achievers include one key step before knocking on doors or making calls. These top achievers have a clear understanding of two main things. The type of service they are offering and the customer(s) that this service fits best. The latter is achieved with a comprehensive customer profile.
What is a Customer Profile?
This is an outline of your client(s) and their business. It helps sales-driven organizations and service providers make better business decisions regarding the products or services they offer.
Customer profiles help filter through the customers that best fit the products or services going to market. These can be existing customers or new customers. This approach helps make the step of prospecting much easier.
Two Ways to Create a Client Profile
1. Market Research
2. Customer Data Mining
It's recommended that you be as granular as possible for both approaches, the more quantitative and qualitative the data, the better. Some of the things to look for are;
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Who are they?
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What do they do?
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Why do they do things that way?
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What's important to them?
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Where do they go for information?
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How do they measure success?
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If you are working with an existing customer base and would like to offer additional services, the following questions should apply;
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Who are my best customers?
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What do they do?
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How long have they been with my organization?
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What are they buying?
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What are their patterns?
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How do they use what they currently purchase?
Some great ways to get customer intel to populate your profile are;
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Direct one-on-one with the customer
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Market Research
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Customer Websites
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Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)
Benefits of Customer Profiling
1. Customer Value Specific: The products or service(s) provided to the client, will be specific to their needs.
2. Sales Person / Company Benefit:
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Simplified Prospecting process
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It helps to develop your marketing activities and programs
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Better client-vendor relationships
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Higher Value Proposition Offer
A systematic approach gives the sales team purpose, focus, energy, and success. Develop the right profile, align it to your services, and have success in growing your business.
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