Who chooses your customers?

2 minutes read

Almost every day, I talk to salespeople from different countries to help them improve their effectiveness, and I observe that most of their problems are linked to accountability and selectivity.   

When salespeople lose a deal, most of the time, the reason is price, competition, lead times… in other words, losing a deal is primarily external. I have never met a salesperson telling me that it was his fault.

In fact, it is the fault of the salesperson. Not because they are not good at sales. It is because they choose the wrong customer. 

Let me give you an example. In one of the sales workshops I was facilitating, a salesperson asked me how to respond to a customer looking only for the lowest price. In his scenario, what really matters to the customer is only the price, not the value, not their goal, not the quality, not the responsibility…etc. It all boils down to the price. And the salesperson was feeling cornered.

Then I asked:

“What makes you want to work with such a customer?

His answer was because it is a very big and historical customer. Then I asked another question:

 “Who decides to work with this customer?

He paused a moment and said, “me!”

To make the long story short, this salesperson chose to work with this customer at meager prices. As he does not hold himself accountable for his decision (because he is giving external reasons such as history, size of the customer, etc) he does not realize his potential for being selective. Whatever the external reasons, it was his decision at the end of the day.

Indeed, unconsciously he chose to work with this customer because it is easy. Replacing this customer with a new customer who would pay more for the value is complex, and he avoids it.

Once he holds himself accountable for his decision, he will have full awareness. Then, he can consciously choose to work with this customer or not. That is selectivity!

In conclusion, accountability and selectivity are two terms that can guide salespeople to long-term success when applied with full awareness.

The more the salespeople will hold themselves accountable for their choices, the more selective they will be. And that will naturally improve their effectiveness