Customers Are NOT Created Equally

A few years ago I did a webinar with some high-level customers. They were a CEO, CNO, Director of Nursing and Director of Purchasing. One of the most interesting interactions we had was when the outspoken CEO shared that her biggest pet peeve was when people try to engage her and bond with her.

"Don't ask me about the weather or my weekend," she said vehemently.

I generally feel the same way so I waited eagerly for the others to join in. They didn't.

After that conversation, I kept thinking about it. Was the CEO right? Should sales reps avoid small talk? As sales reps, we are usually taught that we need to build the relationship through small talk.

I decided to do a little research. I had never studied this before, so I was excited to begin exploring this topic. After several months, I found that only 10% of customers fall into the CEO's category. The vast majority reported that they didn't mind small talk, and some even enjoyed it and felt it was an important part of the process.

How can we deal with this discrepancy?

Well, the truth is, customers are NOT created equally. They all have their own personalities and preferences, and this doesn't just apply to small talk.

Some customers need all the charts, some don't. Some need space to think and hear themselves talk, some don't. Some need to hear from the clinical or technical expert, some just need the bare bones and facts.

Don't treat all customers equally. They aren't.

If you can become an expert at identifying what your customer needs, you'll be far ahead of the competition which is probably treating all customers equally.

What has your experience been like? Let me know in the LinkedIn comments!

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