25 Sales Strategies and Activities
22
or important than you perceive them to be. Under this circumstance, unless you can gain a better under-
standing of the customer’s perspective, you will continue to fall short of the customer’s expectations. This
activity is designed to help you gain this better understanding from the customer’s perception of what they
perceive to be most important concerning the product or service you provide to them. In this activity, you
will be asked to compare and possibly contrast how the customer perceives you to your own perceptions.
Time
40 minutes
Resources
Exhibits 4-A and 4-B
Presentation
Review where Understand the Customer’s Perspective fits into the Sales Strategy Matrix and why it is
positioned where it is.
Begin the activity by emphasizing how important it is to understand the customer’s perspective and how this
can ultimately affect their buying decisions in the future. Perceptions are reality to the customer. It matters
far less how you perceive something than how the customer does.
Ask participants to answer the questions in Exhibit 4-A for themselves as they think the customer would
from his/her perspective.
Suggest that participants ask these same three questions (Exhibit 4-B) of their customer(s). Participants
can then compare their perceptions to those of the customer. If there are any “surprises” concerning the
customer’s perceptions relating their expectations and requirements, participants should take the appropriate
actions to address these issues.
Conclude the activity by again reminding participants that it is the customer’s perspective that is most
important. It is these perceptions that will ultimately determine if they will continue to do business with
you or not. You need to continuously keep in touch with the customer’s perceptions to ensure that you are
still meeting their requirements and expectations.
Reproduced from 25 Sales Strategies and Activities, copyright © 2007.
HRD Press, Inc., Amherst, Massachusetts, www.hrdpress.com
. All rights reserved.
23
Exhibit 4-A
Customer’s Perceptions—Part 1
Instructions: Answer for yourself what you think will be your customer’s perceptions
concerning the following questions.
1. From the customer’s perception, what do you believe they would consider to be their
most important requirement concerning buying your product or service?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How are you presently meeting the customer’s requirements concerning this aspect of
your business relationship?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How could you improve your performance concerning this requirement?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reproduced from 25 Sales Strategies and Activities, copyright © 2007.
HRD Press, Inc., Amherst, Massachusetts, www.hrdpress.com
. All rights reserved.
25
Exhibit 4-B
Customer’s Perceptions—Part 2
In order to help better understand how I/we can meet your requirements as a customer,
please answer the following questions.
1. From your perception, what do you believe is the most important requirement concerning
buying my/our product or service?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How well am I/we presently meeting your requirements concerning this aspect of our
business relationship?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How could I/we improve my/our performance concerning this requirement?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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