B2B Organic Growth Blog

What else is there besides hearing customers’ needs? Impress them so they’ll want to do business with you. Incorporate your insights into a value calculator to optimize pricing. Use customers’ precise interview language on your website to improve SEO. Uncover unspoken needs in a post-interview customer tour. Understand their next best alternative. These are the reasons VOC training delivers ridiculously high ROI.

Watch 2-min video, How Blueprinting Drives Organic Growth

Is your rep eagerly listening to the customer’s problems vs. over-selling in the “broadcast mode”? When a problem surfaces, does your rep probe to learn when it happens, how often it happens, where it happens, the impact of the problem, and the value in preventing it? Does your rep draw special attention to each customer need in their call report vs. co-mingling needs with a mish-mash of other information? Can your product managers mine your CRM to detect weak signals of market needs before competitors?

Learn how to answer “yes” to the above with Everyday VOC® training.

When you say you want to pursue a “new market,” do you mean the market is truly embryonic? Or is this just a new market for you? If so, it’s better to call the latter an “unfamiliar market.” The customers were already there. It’s you—not the market—that’s new. This is just one example of supplier-centric thinking that permeates B2B innovation. Customer-centric thinking will take you much further.

More in white paper, Innovating in Unfamiliar Markets (page 2)

It’s helpful—but shortsighted—to ask, “How can AI assist me?” It ignores the end game when AI becomes more than your friendly helper. Some ask, “When will AI replace me?” A better question is, “What work can I master that AI cannot?” For this, we’ll consider the Digital Waterline. (Watch in 5-minute video.) AI already does many ... Read More

In either case you should ask, “What was I thinking when I started this?” Especially if you are a B2B supplier with knowledgeable, interested, rational customers, who want you to know their needs. And a science already exists for completely understanding these needs. Maybe it’s time to stop throwing salt and begin learning a better approach?

Learn more about B2B innovation at www.newproductblueprinting.com

The customer stakeholder saying “no” may be completely HIDDEN from the key account manager. Key decision-makers are ABUNDANT… on average, 5.4 people per B2B buying decisions, which drops their “intent to purchase” below 50% (compared to individuals at 81%). Many critical decision-influencers are RELUCTANT to meet with a salesperson. And because these decision-influencers hail from different job functions, they DISAGREE on what is needed.

Learn how to overcome this with Key Account Blueprinting

Your stage-and-gate process is the interface between your company and project teams… doing vital work like preventing mistakes, planning resources, and creating portfolio views. Keep it, but add another interface on top… between the teams and customers. This interface is “customer insights skills.” Together they’re a dynamic duo.

More in white paper, Guessing at Customer Needs (page 9)

Some voice-of-customer experts recommend you exclude your salesforce from interviews because “they can sell but not listen.” True sales professionals are great listeners: You just need to reward them for listening. Strengthen listening and learning by your entire team, and you’ll out-perform competitors who side-line their sales pros when gathering market insights.

More in e-book, Reinventing VOC for B2B (page 24)

Over time, certain patterns become impossible to ignore—and when they do, it’s worth stepping back and talking openly about them. One of those moments is when we hear someone say, “All customers want is a lower price.” That statement isn’t a conclusion. It’s a signal. And it deserves attention. 1. Product Decisions Are Happening All ... Read More

You would hope the answer is, “yes.” After all, research since the late-1980’s has shown asking the right questions improves selling success. Unfortunately, our own research of 396 B2B sales professionals shows decades of selling experience gradually improves probing skills, but not taking multiple sales training programs. These sales training programs are surely helpful in mastering other skills, but not for changing behavior when it comes to asking good questions.

Download research report, VOC Skills that Drive B2B Sales