Images_Digital_Edition_April_2019

KB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT APRIL 2019 images 53 Solutions selling step one: Know your customer To dig into the process let’s start with the idea that you need to completely understand your potential customer. You can do this by defining your best customers, as outlined in the boxout opposite. Use the 80/20 rule to identify specifically your best customers. Then take a look at how these customers do business with you. Order size, frequency, decoration method, the complexity of their orders… everything. Jot down anything that looks like a trend. These are easier to clone for new customers as you have a better understanding of this group. Does this limit potential customers that are dissimilar? No. But if you want to market to a different group, you are going to need to do some research to understand them better. Shoot for the ‘why‘ People normally don’t buy with metrics and data in mind. They buy on emotion. Alignment. Shared experiences or language. Some sort of connection. The trust that you want to deliver to your customers is built when they can see a match with what you have already achieved or offer. For example, let’s say you are having a problem with your car. It’s not running right and you need to get it serviced. How are you making that decision? Usually, it is with a set of examples that lead you to believe that the shop you take your car to will fix the car correctly and at a price you are willing to pay. That defines your ‘why‘. Your potential customers are no different. You simply need to understand their ‘why‘ and offer examples of that solution for them to understand that you are the best match. But – and this is important – you have to make it easy for them to understand. For example, let’s say you have invested in a DTG printer. Many shops have. But, is that piece of equipment running constantly in production with orders? Probably not. Why? Because you are marketing the wrong problem. Nobody is online searching for digital printing, yet I’ll bet plenty of folks are out there looking for www.images-magazine.com The 80/20 dive Your top 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of the revenue. Yep. So if you are a £1 million a year shop with about a hundred active customers, the spread might look like this: Best customer = £260,000 First runner-up = £150,000 Third place = £60,000 Batting clean up = £40,000 Cinco = £34,000 Sexy number six = £30,000 Lucky number seven = £28,500 Snowman = £26,000 Racer X = £25,000 Tenspot = £22,500 Matchsticks = £21,500 Printers fold = £20,000 Baker’s dozen = £19,000 Fortnight = £17,500 Learner’s permit = £16,000 Sweeeet! = £14,000 Prom night = £10,000 Vote! = £6,000 In this example, the bottom 80% of the customers account for £200,000 and are customers 19-100 in the ranking. The top 20% of sales are controlled by 18 customers…and they account for £800,000. That’s right. Eighteen customers account for £800,000 worth of £1 million sales. It’s crucial that you identify your top 20%. That is your truth. This is who spends the best money with you. These are your best customers. If you aren’t a £1 million shop just remove a zero from the numbers on the example list. I’ll bet they might come close to your top 20%. 80/20 won’t line up exactly, but it will be close. So in my example the £260,000 a year customer becomes a £26,000 a year one for a £100,000 a year shop. The relationship is the same. So while it’s tempting to spend a lot of time grinding gears fussing over that six-piece order that some walk-in customer ‘just had to have now‘, they aren’t doing you any favours. Want to make a difference in 2019? Worry more about this top 20% than the bottom 80%. These folks need to be seriously, deliriously happy. In fact, if you are doing this right they are your biggest advocates and referrals. Sales and marketing are much easier when your customers do half the work. ‘same day‘ or ‘next day‘ printing. You just have to understand how to market the solution you are offeri ng the right way. The story you need to be telling is the solution to yo ur potential customers‘ biggest proble m. Solutions selling step two: Ask good questions How the decorated appar el industry works is a mystery to mos t of our customers. They can’t co me as prepared as we would like them to be as they just don’t have the experience and language to describe what they nee d. One of your main jobs at the begin ning of any sales relationship will be to edu cate your customers and dig into their pain point – the problem they need you to solv e . Start a conversation. By understanding their story you can better build the right solution to their challenge. This is entirely different from the rookie mistake of simply diving headfirst into quoting. Stop selling ink on cotton. That’s not your value. Any goofball can throw out a quote and print on some shirts. Big deal. Your value is rooting out their biggest fear, their ultimate challenge, their looming problem…and divining a solution that will work. Gr ea t questions will produce a great solution . You want to know the most relevant specifics. For example, let’s say they are trying to raise money for a school fund or a charity. What is their monetary goal? How many people do they think will be part of their programme? What type of shirts do they normally purchase? Do they have a deadline? Artwork?