Listen to the client
Whether it’s on a date, at a party or at a business meeting, no one likes a person who doesn’t shut up.
Mikan has been in the business for more than 30 years and he’s seen too many meetings where it is a one-sided sales pitch about what a company can do for the cli
ent.
“If you go to a doctor with a health problem, you don’t want to listen to the first 45 minutes of his history of how he became interested in medicine and where he’s gone in 30 years,” he says. “You really want some assistance with the problem.”
If you are doing all of the talking, there is no time to find out if there is a mutual future because you are the only one sharing information. You aren’t going to create a client-based company if only one side of the story is getting out there.
“To some degree, everybody gets involved in this — you spend a lot of time talking to clients and prospective clients about yourself,” he says. “Obviously, they’re going to want to know who you are and what you can do. But the truth of the matter is, the whole relationship is structured on what the client’s about.”
By letting the clients do most of the talking, you can hear what they need and know if it links to what you do well as a company.
If the sales executive identifies that HDH can help fill a client’s need, then a second meeting is set up and the meetings become more technical.
If the salesperson knows HDH wouldn’t be of any help to a client, then the pursuit is put on hold. However, the sales executive lets those clients know that if they have another need come up in the future, to let HDH know.
“The idea of just entering into a competition for the hope of winning is just a bad idea,” he says. “It’s a bad idea for the client … because you are going to introduce some mythical competition that is really unnecessary and doesn’t really help your balance sheet.”
In addition, don’t go into a meeting automatically assuming that you are going to work on the opportunity.
“Instinctively, if you are an effective sales executive or have some role in growing your company, you probably have some pretty solid instincts,” he says. “After awhile, instinctively, you kind of know what an opportunity is and is not. Circumstances can impact your instincts. So, if things are not going well for you and you run into an opportunity that you know instinctively is not necessarily good for the current time, you may talk yourself into thinking it is, just for the chance of maybe having a success.
By going in with your mind made up that you will take this opportunity, you feed into your own problem.
“Trust your instincts, be honest with yourself and be candid with a prospective client,” he says. “I think, at the end of the day, prospective clients appreciate that. Maybe not universally, I understand. But I think, at the end of the day, they look at the discussion and relationship you have.
“Even though it may not have been something that we pursued in 2009, if you stay in touch, somewhere out there, whether it’s in one year or four, that client will remember the way you worked, the way you approached him or her and you will have success.”
It took a year, but the numbers supported Mikan’s theory, and the new approach has improved the company’s success ratio by about 25 percent.
“It’s something that we really try to emphasize, especially the last seven, eight, nine years,” he says. I think in one measure or another, (we were) client-focused probably since the day we opened the door. But, we really formalized it much better, much clearer than we ever had before a few years back … and it’s worked really well for us.”
How to reach: The HDH Group Inc., (412) 391-7300 orwww.hdhgroup.com
