Improving sales involves generating niches and modifying the way the service is provided, focusing on solving customer needs, to reach successful conversions.
By Rolando Torrado*
Whenever someone contacted me to ask for a quote I felt happy, even more so when they told me that I had been recommended by one of my clients, because that made me feel as if I were the last Coca-Cola in the desert and any business was already closed.
But nothing is further from reality, because most of the time, when we are not specialists in solving a specific problem with a method of our own to a specific client (niche), we are really those of the air, those of the printers, those of the floors, or whatever we do.
This, according to Luis Ramos translates into that "if I am one more of the pile I really am one less, because I am not memorable and if I am not memorable it is because I am replaceable", analyzes this phrase.
Stop reading, repeat that phrase once again and draw your own conclusions, one of them may be that that's why the client goes with another that gives him cheaper, although I have been providing services for several years but he says that we all do the same.
In short, this is the explanation of that bad moment we go through when a client changes us.
These words of Luis Ramos still resonate in my mind because some of the companies I advise (and even mine in other times) fought with the market and with the clients, because they hired with the guy on the corner and the companies I advise that were 10, 20 and even 30 years old did not hire them.
Then I understood that the problem is to be generic, is to try to work with everyone and do everything, with which he calls me or sends me an Excel, because in reality those customers all they want is someone cheaper than the 20 quotes he has on his desk, because for them they all do the same thing and in a certain way SIIIII, That's right. We want to do what everyone else does and we don't have something that differentiates us (what I call the thousandth of a second).
In order for them to do good marketing it is necessary to 'annihilate us', that is, find who it is that we can help, it can be the industry, hospitals, retailers and Data Centers, among others. With this we already partialize our operation and we become specialists in that niche.
It should be noted that being specialists in a niche is not working only with those clients and being very good at what we do. The essence of managing a niche is to reach the bowels of that client and that we define what are the problems that we solve to that niche, which I recommend are no more than three (3) problems.
So, when you make content or when you go to meet with a client in your niche inquire about the problems you solve, because as you are specialists you know what negatively or positively impacts the client to solve the problem you solve and you must give them an expected result guaranteed by their own method, since many people can solve the same problem, But the difference is how he solves it (the thousandth of a second).
Let's review this case: An HVAC company that specializes in helping data centers avoid running out of weather.
This is done by many companies in the market and have large contracts with this niche, but I want you to analyze this specialty in the following way: we are showing those we help (which are the companies that have data centers), we are showing them what the problem we solve is (prevent them from running out of air conditioning), but the real specialty of the contractor is when he speaks in the same language as the client.
For example, when they agree that information can be lost because hard drives are damaged and how much would it be worth to recover that information? (if possible) what legal problems can be caused if they have information from third parties hosted on those disks or servers and it is lost?, that they can pay fines for page drops, etc.
So the experience is being able to show data center owners what they're up against if I don't help them solve the problem of running out of weather.
So far we are clear about the type of client we help (niche) and we focus on a single problem to solve it, but if we are even more irreplaceable we will have a unique method, which is to solve this problem in a proven way.
Then the client is not shown what we do in detail to solve the problem, but is given the results he should expect, how long we solve the problem and with what level of effort on his part this result would be obtained, so that we can monetize all this and check if we are the most expensive or ultimately the cheapest.
The market and the business is in the niches, but well understood. Because if we take the example of data centers again and specify it more as the data centers that are in warm cities next to the sea, then those of cities without a coast are not going to be our customers.
Now guess what happens to those in the cities that are with the sea nearby? if we arrive with a good job of Marketing it is highly likely that we will close deals with more than 50% of them. Then you go, little by little, focusing your 'expertise' on solving that problem to that client with your unique method, and if you get other clients who want you to work for them and are willing to pay your value, then of course you are going to serve them.
Whenever I talk to the companies that I advise on the subject of niches their answer is the same, moreover, it is the same thing you are thinking at this moment, yes, that which circulates in your mind, how do I stop serving all customers?
But the answer is the same as I have always given, nobody talks that you do not know how to do other things, the 'anicharse', having a specific client to whom you solve one or several problems in a unique way with your method makes you a specialist and as such you will know clearly what the client feels, What the customer suffers, what the customer expects, what the customer at any price would do, what the customer appreciates, what keeps the customer up at night, and that's why we solve only one to three problems.
All this work of identifying the niche, the problem that we solve to that niche and our unique method to solve it serves mainly to do marketing in mass or specific media, work cold prospecting so that when we talk to someone unknown, he receives us and gives us the opportunity to hold a meeting with a high probability of closing.
There it is important to keep in mind that nobody is going to buy you for what you are, they are going to buy you for what you solve for them.
Please do not talk about your company, who they are, how many years they have in the market, how many certifications they have, what brands they represent or how big they are, the client is not interested in that at all what really interests him is the problem you can solve.
What's more, think about this, when did you buy a cell phone outside an iPhone? if you bought it can you confirm how much speed does the processor have?, What is the resistance of the screen?, What is the speed of data transmission on its internal buses?, What is the range of the Wifi antenna?, If the case is that you did not buy it I can ask you why you have another brand if supposedly iPhone is the best of the best?
Surely most have no answer for 98% of readers, because when we go to buy we do not look at the technical part, but the problem we must solve,
Examples
When you buy food it is because you are hungry or because you love the taste or atmosphere of the restaurant, you never ask the brand of the ingredients, or if the pots are in aluminum or stainless steel, if the chefs are certified or empirical, etc.
When you buy a car it is usually because you like the shape, speed, fuel consumption, if it is SUV or sedan or because that brand simply fascinates you, but rarely do you look at the brand and models of shock absorbers, engine horsepower, if the engine is from the USA or China, if the tires are for track or for double terrain, etc.
So we could give you many examples that ratify that the technical does not sell, what sells is the solution to your client's problem, the implementation time, the percentage of success and the effort that he will invest for that result, among other factors.
With this analysis I want you to please think the following: Do you think that telling the client that you are going to sell Inverter, VRF and Ice Water, imported brand, which are energy-saving equipment and are certified, will help him to lean towards you when making the decision of who to work with? This is an internal reflection of each one and is not for polemic, that's why I don't answer anything.
I just want to close the article by telling you that in the next editions I will show you what the function of a salesperson is, which hopefully is not an engineer and if he is an engineer he should never talk technically with prospects, because sales are not technical, they are problem solving.
Many sales methodologies exist in the market and I could quote at this time the Sandler that says that a seller has the specific function of qualifying the prospectus to evaluate whether or not to present an offer, inform the client if he can be helped or not and give freedom to the prospect that if he sees that we are not on the same page simply inform us and close the case and so we do not wear ourselves out. neither. But I want to tell you that the qualification is divided into three steps that are:
Find out if the prospect has the problem that we solve (that is, he has pain).
Evaluate the prospect's available budget to invest in solving the problem.
Know in detail the decision-making process to ensure that you meet as many requirements as possible and that you have spoken with the true 'Decision Maker'.
So I invite you to follow me as Rolando Torrado on Youtube mainly because it is where I mount deeper information, there will also be the episodes of the Podcast "Business Monetization" that were initially on Spotify, but if you like more summarized things then follow us on Instagram, Facebook, linkedIn and Tiktok, where relevant data are uploaded daily that will help you solve specific problems.
Do not forget that if you have doubts or something you want to clarify you can send me DM in the networks or by wsp to +57 3153126387 and I will give you my support in everything possible, to clarify those doubts that sometimes do not let us move forward. I hope with all my heart this article will help you improve your sales cycle and the results of them, see you in the next edition.
* Rolando Torrado, Mechanical Engineer, Master in HVAC who works with MEP companies that do not want to depend on the owner 100% because they are not self-sustainable in growth and profitability.
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