First Friday Book Synopsis

Randy Mayeux and I are really excited about our upcoming book, entitled Answers to 100 Best Business Questions from 100 Best-Selling Business Books.

The book attempts to answer questions that our clients have in areas such as customer service, management, leadership, teamwork, communication skills, and strategy.   The answers come from books that we have presented over the years at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas.  Each question and answer fits on exactly one page.

The idea for the book came from a presentation we heard last week at Success North Dallas with Jill Schiefelbein, who spoke on business video, podcasting, and livestreaming. She is called the DYNAMIC COMMUNICATOR.  Her major take-away is that businesses need to answer the questions that their customers ask.  I am pictured with her below.

Here is a sample page from the book to whet your appetite:

What do customers really want salespeople to know?

Ram Charan.  (2007).  What the customer wants you to know:  How everybody needs to think differently about sales.  New York:  Portfolio.

The landscape for selling has changed in significant ways in the past twenty years.  Customers’ quest for personal service and high quality, now rival the best possible price that they want to pay.  In this best-seller, Ram Charan explains what this revolution in customer demands means for salespeople’s behavior.

 

What exactly has changed?  Years ago, supplies were tight, and customers had to book orders months in advance, with little room to negotiate price.  Salespeople transitioned from order-takers to ambassadors, identifying needs and linking them to products and services, building relationships with their customers.  Today, there is a glut of suppliers and supplies, with access from the Internet to all types of locations.  The customers are under pressure to deliver value to their clients. “But the pressure on customers to perform is actually a huge opportunity for those suppliers who can help them….So while they want low prices, they also want their clients to love their products and services.  They want to win against their competitors and stay ahead of them…They want suppliers who can help them accomplish those things by acting as partners, not one-time transactors” (pp. 4-5)

 

So, what does Charan say to do? Make the focus on the prosperity of your customers.  Become your customer’s trusted partner, requiring you to understand: (1) the customer’s set of opportunities and the anatomy of competitive dynamics, (2) the customer’s customers and the customer’s competitors, (3) how decisions are made in the customer’s organization, (4) the customer’s company culture and its dominant psychology and values, and (5) the customer’s goals and priorities, both short-term and long-term, clearly and specifically (p. 40).

 

In short, Charan tells you to measure your success by how well your customers are doing with your help.  Do not focus on selling a product or service; focus on how you can help the customer succeed in all ways that are important to that customer.