Customers frequently say they want sales reps to demonstrate "a clear understanding of our business." What is the key research you do in order to demonstrate this knowledge?
Sort By:
Oldest
CEO in Software3 months ago
Besides doing the basic homework, studying the website, news articles etc. it also is a good idea for a business if they are in a complex industry, to hire domain expert sales people if you can afford it. They cost more but they also usually get a lot more business by having the customer's respect. They know how their customers operate, often bring already relevant contacts, know what customers do and why and then how your offering therefore is the best fit. They can ask the right questions and uncover needs in conversations which are not "salesy" but helpful and the customer will love them and buy from them.VP of Sales3 months ago
To demonstrate and understanding of a customer’s business:Customer website;
Investor relations site (for publicly traded companies), especially the form 10-K under SEC filings;
Your customer’s customers – either reviews on social media (Glassdoor, Yelp, etc.);
LinkedIn – see what your customers employees are posting about!
CSO in Education3 months ago
This refers to a decent or basic understanding issues affecting their industries, major trends and changes coming their way, major players and how certain 'things' can help them improve their level of game. For this, a few sources:1. Annual reports
2. Stocks news (e.g. NASDAQ for tech news)
3. Industry news
4. Summary from AI
5. Google/Glassdoor (to check issues)
could be a good start.
CSO3 months ago
If they are a public company, I've found the 10K to be an outstanding tool. They list the risk factors and often you can find pain points where you can help. If they are not a publicly held company, gathering insights from like customers is helpful. This gives a foundation for asking the right types of questions.
It's still okay to begin an initial meeting with a "Please tell me what you do" statement, but it's a lot more effective when you open with something like "I've done some homework and feel I have a good understanding of what your company does in the ____ space for clients such as _____, but how would you best describe what your company does?" From there, you can have an interactive discussion of how your two companies may best collaborate.