How do you answer that question? If your customers don’t need you, you’re not relevant. No need means no customers. No customers mean no sales. No sales means no business. It’s as simple as that!
How do you make yourself indispensable to your clients? You work at it. You focus not on making sales but on solving problems. You consciously decide that you want to serve. Making a sale becomes a by-product of your commitment to helping. Your biggest opportunity is out there. It requires that you discover what needs your customers have that are not being met. And then you meet them.
How do you find where their needs are not being met? Where do you find those needs? By intense focus, observation and creativity. You watch to see how your customer’s organization interacts with its customers. You look for holes. You try to understand what their end-buyer needs. You attend their trade shows. You read their trade publications. You pretend that they just hired you and you are trying to get up to speed quickly so you can create value.
You focus on results and outcomes and not on products and specifications. You take an active role in helping your customers increase productivity, profits, performance and expand their market presence. You help them attract, train and retain great people. You help them communicate their purpose.
What do your customers need? They need to increase sales, keep current customers, reactivate old customers, lower costs, increase efficiency, and motivate and inspire their stake-holders. You have the tools to solve their problems. They may happen to be promotional products. Identify the need. Present the solution. Do this and your customers will need you.
