Imagine If

Last week I had the opportunity to attend some seminars that were put on by the University of Washington’s Business and Economic Development Center. At one of the seminars we had the opportunity to listen to a panel that included a world renowned economist, a local Seattle advertising executive, and a marketing communications expert. These panelists brought up several great points. When it was the economists time to speak he showed us on a graph how this economic recession was following a similar path to previous recessions. Albeit, this recession was much deeper and longer than any other recession since the Great Depression. He proved to the audience that all economic signals are indicating that this recession bottomed a few months ago, and based on the past history of other recessions, the country will emerge out of this recession in a few short months. This was some great news, but many in the audience commented that there were still going to be very challenging times in the months ahead.

After the economist spoke, the questions from the audience seemed to turn to what could businesses do to prepare themselves for the future. The advertising executive made a comment that really caught my attention. He said that we’ve entered a “New Normal”, where the consumer’s psyche has changed. The consumer, whether it is an individual, household, or business, is seeking after Value. In his opinion, consumers are spending more time than ever evaluating their purchase decisions. They do not want to waste their money. Those companies that can find out what consumers Value, and actually create value for their customers, will be the true long-term winners. He reiterated that you can’t assume you know what the consumer values. You must engage your customers and find out what is truly important to them. When you know what the customer values, you can then “Frame the Discussion” with your customers and prospective customers. When we engage our customers and sales prospects, we need to turn the discussion to “Imagine if…..”.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

Example 1
We have a sales prospect that says “There’s no real difference between any of the area’s fuel suppliers. Fuel is fuel, and all you distributors sell fuel for about the same price”. Our skilled salesperson, realizes that she has to re-frame the discussion, so she says, “Imagine if your supplier could provide accurate short-term predictions on fuel prices, and could help you purchase fuel at the right time. Is this something that your current supplier does for you?” The conversation has now turned from price, to value. If the prospect wants to be able to make informed decisions on when to fill up his tanks, he will value the fact that R.E. Powell has an on-staff fuel market analyst.

Example 2
A customer says that we need to lower our price on our lubricants because the competition is beating us by 10 cents per gallon. Our well trained Territory Manager asks the customer what other value added services does that competitor provide. The Territory Manager then follows that up by saying “Imagine if your supplier does not perform an in-depth quarterly review like R.E. Powell does, how will you stay on top of the constant changes that take place with your lubricants? In the near future you could be using products that no longer meet your unique needs”

If we as a company look around, we will find that we are surrounded by numerous “Imagine Ifs”. They include

Imagine if your fuel supplier could assist you in putting together a fuel purchasing strategy and budget for 2010!

Imagine if your fuel supplier put on an annual Dealer Conference and Trade Show that included industry leading training!

Imagine if your lubricant supplier performed regular facility audits to ensure that you are using the best products for your unique needs!

Imagine if your territory manager met with you once a quarter to assist you in finding ways to optimize your purchases, and ultimately your business!

Imagine if your delivery driver showed up to your place of business well groomed, in a nice uniform, and in a nice piece of equipment!

Imagine if you could always count on your distributor to follow through on what they said they were going to do!

If you can think of any “Imagine Ifs” that we should be sharing with our customers and sales prospects, please let me know.

I'd love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net


Tony

www.repowell.net