Soon enough Mick Jagger will be strutting his stuff across the stage, telling all who listen how he can't get no satisfaction.
Satisfaction is a key goal for many organizations. For example, salespeople search for customers who are dissatisfied with their current providers. In the process, they mistakenly ignore or overlook the large group of happy and "satisfied' potential buyers commonly referred to as "status quo. Customer support people send out surveys after every call to ensure the customer was "satisfied."
The problem with these tactics, however, is that satisfaction is a poor indicator for future revenue growth from a client and even retention.
For years pundits and sales managers encouraged their teams to focus on pain, need and the people who require their "solution," and by default, discouraged them from spending too much time chasing the status quo.
"They are happy and satisfied; they aren't open to change." This kind of thinking has led a number of salespeople to concentrate on a narrow and highly competitive part of the market. The 10 per cent or so who are actively looking and comparing you to your competitors and leveraging that for concessions (read discount). About another 20 per cent are those who are passively looking. They may have a machine that will be end of life in 18 months or so, they know they need to buy but feel they have time. It's a good group to pursue, but they're usually not enough to deliver quota. The remaining 70 per cent are the overlooked status quo, ignored because they are seemingly "satisfied."
But when you look at the stats, a different picture emerges. According to 'Customer Loyalty Guaranteed' Bell & Patterson, 75 per cent of customers who leave or switch vendors for a competitor, say they were 'satisfied or completely satisfied' with the vendor they left, at the time they switched. It's not the scenario you'd expect if you followed conventional wisdom. The question remains: why did this large group of satisfied customers jump ship? The answer is someone was able to find a motivator greater than fear, pain, needs, or satisfaction -- namely objectives.
While only a small segment of any given market may experience 'pain' or have a clearly defined need, everyone has objectives. Change the focus, change the narrative, and you change the outcome.
Pains and needs are short term. Once the client finds their 'Aspirin' they move on. Objectives, on the other hand, are forward-looking, uplifting and generally lead to more. Align your approach with their objectives, and the 70 per cent that is 'satisfied' will find a reason to move, to leave, mostly because they see a means of achieving their objectives. While they may be satisfied, and even like their current provider, they have been shown the greener grass on the other side of achieving their objectives. The effort in finding that out is not that much greater than finding their 'pain points,' but the payoff is bigger and longer lasting.
The contributing factor is how organizations view their clients. Once a company's first close takes place, it also shifts to 'satisfaction mode.' While this is fine for a while, remember that customers' objectives evolve and we need to evolve with them. A seller who understand her buyer's objectives, who engages and leads them to explore alternative views will easily connect with those motivated by pain and objectives.
The assumption that 'satisfied' customers will stay is problematic. You can have all the surveys you want saying that they are satisfied, if they see an opportunity to progress, to achieve a stated goal, they will reach for that every day and all day.
Rather than focusing on satisfaction, focus on aligning you entire customer-facing organization to focus on objectives. When you do, you'll be ready to welcome your competitors' satisfied customers.
Tibor Shanto is a principal at Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. He can be reached at tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca. His column appears once a month on the Report on Small Business website.
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