These are some of the questions that every manager asks himself at some point in the reflection necessary to continue his growth, especially when he wants to take the big leap and go from being just another supplier to a beloved brand that is part of the lives of his clients. If you have ever wondered how convenient it is for you to stop and listen to what your clients are experiencing and what their challenges and needs are, in this article we present some advantages for your company if you decide to do so.
What problems might your B2B client have?
The problems of your current or potential customers are difficult situations that they are experiencing and that they need to solve.
The problem can be known , if they can put into words what is happening to them and what they need to solve it, or unknown if they only express what is happening to them without knowing what they need to achieve it. This is a determining factor in the purchasing decision they will make and, therefore, the economic impact on your organization.
If you have a B2B sales company, you can understand the problems of your current or potential customers by grouping them into 4 categories :
Finance: They feel they are spending too much money with their current provider and want to reduce their spending.
Productivity: They feel they are wasting too much time using their current provider or want to use their time more efficiently.
Regarding processes: they feel that they can be improved and want to optimize the ones they are following with their current provider.
Support: They feel they are not receiving the support they need at critical stages of the customer journey or sales process.
How to understand the problems your B2B customers have?
Just as there are multiple negotiation and sales techniques , there are also different ways to find out the most important or recurring problems among your clients, potential clients or your target audience. Some of the most recommended are:
01. Talk to your employees.
Your salespeople, customer service representatives, and phone operators are natural sources of information about your customers.
Make it a regular habit to check in with them about how they think customers feel. If a policy has changed or prices have gone up, for example, find out how they react. Any information, no matter how trivial, is going to be useful.
02. Practice active listening.
The first step to active listening is paying attention to what customers have to say and making them feel valued and heard.
Customer service teams must be trained to leverage gambling data russia their communication and active listening skills to understand customer needs , appease upset customers, and achieve positive emotional connection.
03. Ask appropriate questions .
Asking customers what their expectations are can uncover their latent needs and help your customer service team find solutions before customers even realize they need them.
While there are different types of customers , asking the right questions can lead you to the right answers (and vice versa).
>> Here you can learn more about open-ended questions to sell more , according to the consultative selling process.
04. Collect customer feedback .
Collect feedback from your current and potential customers at different stages of their interaction. Their comments, complaints and suggestions provide you with information about how they feel and what they expect from your products and services.
05. Be in continuous contact with clients.
Most managers want to believe that problems are effectively resolved during the first service interaction. But when you ask customers themselves, this is not the case – less than half agree.
Make sure you follow up with the customer after the sales visit and the various interactions you have had with them. In addition to checking whether they were satisfied with the solution provided, you will forge the emotional bond that drives people to companies around the world today.
5 advantages of knowing the problems of B2B customers:
Are you one of those who think that it takes a lot of time (money) to find out about your customers' problems? Here are 5 advantages that this time brings to the growth of your business:
5 Advantages of Knowing Customers' Problems
01. Reduce customer complaints.
Knowing your customers doesn’t just mean you can sell more. It also means you can keep them longer by responding to their complaints and solving their biggest challenges more effectively.
This way, your customer service team can develop concrete solutions to the problems customers are experiencing, and you can proactively offer these solutions before customers start airing their dissatisfaction publicly.
You can see a lot of complaints, for example, around airline brands, which are traditionally difficult to work with and offer poor customer service .
02. Respond quickly to changes in the environment.
Knowing your customers means being able to respond quickly to their real needs. This knowledge allows you to make smart decisions that impact your entire target audience.
The best way to respond quickly to the needs of your customers and consumers is to engage them in conversation as soon as possible, for example with the help of a pre-designed online survey .
You can also go further and contact your key customers and consumers by phone and in person. Use this opportunity not only to show that you care, but also to find out how you can serve them better, and then come up with a plan to make it happen (never leave it just in conversation or you will achieve the opposite effect).
03. Increase your range of potential clients .
By getting to know your customers better, their buying habits, location, and problems, you have the knowledge you need to offer them what they want most.
Although some business executives have an intuition about who their customers are, market research often brings surprises. You may even discover that your customer is slightly different than you thought, so you can focus on reaching this more real and appropriate market for your growth.
04. Improve your marketing targeting .
Companies typically operate with one of three basic business orientations: marketing, sales, or product. The marketing orientation is the most widespread and often the most beneficial in the early 21st century.
It is a philosophy that involves operating with a customer-centric culture . This means that understanding customer needs and wants is the driving force of the business.
Production and marketing are the result of customer knowledge and are used to develop and market what are known to be the primary concerns of the customer .
05. Align your product development with customers.
Product-focused companies may struggle to keep pace with changing or evolving markets. However, customer-centric organizations maintain a closer level of interaction with key customers.
This makes them more effective at adapting to changing preferences or emerging customer needs. This close connection with customers enables you to more quickly and consistently address product design issues or introduce improvements to core technologies.
>> Learn how to get your sales force to optimize customer management .
Conclusion:
Now that you know the advantages of knowing your customers' problems, it's time to get to work and start taking the necessary steps to apply this strategy in your business.
Remember that you can take advantage of active listening and online market research solutions to get to the heart of what your customers need. You can also take advantage of
inaCátalog 's digital tools to compile all interactions with your customers on various channels and identify which problems are most frequently generated, in order to make successful decisions.
