Executive Guidance for 2010: Confronting Six Enemies of Post-Recession Performance

The most obvious effect of severe recession is that customers buy less. What is less obvious is how economic trauma changes customers’ needs and shifts their priorities and buying behavior. It is essential to recognize and modify any brand or selling strategy that is out of step with current customer patterns.

Three changes in particular counter conventional wisdom about customer needs:

1. Just as companies invest heavily to create and demonstrate functional value in hard financial terms, consumers are increasingly swayed by emotional brand attributes. It is essential to create an emotional connection with consumers because those hardest hit by the recession are more likely to respond to emotional differentiation.
2. In today’s economic climate, sales professionals who challenge customers are far more likely to outperform those still focused on relationships. “Challenging" overcomes customer risk aversion and can defeat a consensus buying posture. But today, only 27% of a company’s field sales population (at best) is able to have these types of conversations.
3. While companies aim for customer satisfaction and delight, there are higher loyalty benefits from simply making it easier for a customer to access your organization. Reducing “customer effort" creates far more customer loyalty than improving or enhancing their experience.

 

Confronting the Enemy

Revisit your customers' needs by asking:

• What are the product/service features that customers value based on their functional needs?
• What are the emotional needs customers are trying to fulfill with your product/service?

 

Identify points of credible superiority by defining:

• How does your product/service enable the outcomes and personal satisfaction your customers seek better than alternatives?
• What are your proof points and will your customers appreciate the difference?

 

Adapt selling models that challenge customer beliefs and educate them about their own business.