ver the latter part of the 1990’s, both individuals and organizations optimized their selling and marketing practices for a high demand, high growth business environment. We became comfortable  with and proficient in the skills and processes of fulfilling demand for our customers and clients, rather than creating demand within them.

But those times are now behind us, at least for awhile.

Right now, enterprises of all types and sizes are fundamentally changing their buying processes, changing their patterns of decision-making, changing what they want from their investment of scarce budget dollars. They are changing their expectations of partners, suppliers, vendors, and, yes, of sales people.

Now we need different proficiencies, different skill sets, different processes, and a different comfort zone that creates demand and adds differentiated value in a tough economy – we need to re-learn some things that will be needed for us to succeed moving forward in this new and different time.

We need to re-learn the skills of:

• Determining the value of a lead and a real prospect, and generating these leads through our own personal influence networks.
• Developing relationships that go beyond mere acquaintance to real influence – creating new business value that uncover hidden needs and create real solutions.
• Understanding the customer’s situation better than they know themselves – having a deep insight into the severity and consequences of the customer’s problem and how their end-customers further down the chain think of business value.
• Negotiating the value of the deal and getting past ‘yes’ to a long-term customer relationship.
• Understanding the importance and value of customer loyalty and creating a powerful, winning total customer experience – discovery/value approach, first purchase, installation, customer support, service, ongoing purchases, and long-term care.
• Competing not only with a competitor’s product, but also with their whole go-to-market strategy – how they provide a total customer experience.
• Competing with the status quo and evaluating the customer’s decision not to act when scarce resources are tight.
• Speaking the language of enterprise value and quantifying the business impact of the solutions in hard currency.

As you look at the comfort zones of your sales people today, at the dialogues they are having, or trying to have, with your prospects and customers, what have you changed?

At JBK, we are in the business of changing the conversations between your sales, marketing, and support teams and your customers. Those conversations, and the skills, competencies, and processes required for creating and engaging in them, are where your go-to-market strategies come to life. It is in those conversations that your new strategies for creating demand are expressed.  .