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Guest Column

How Good Are Your Matchmaking Skills?

By: Chuck Kleiner

1/1/2009

Matching the product to your customer's buying profile can help make the sale

How Good Are Your Matchmaking Skills?We've all been in this situation: You're excited about a new product that you just picked up. You set up appointments and demo the product with potential customers. But no one is returning your calls. What's going on?

You might be suffering from a mismatch. If your product is in the "new and exciting" category and your customer is in the "let's see what happens" category, you've got a problem. Properly matching your products to your customers is critical to success. In my 20 years of selling in the education market, I've found that understanding who your customer is and positioning your products in light of his or her buying profile means the difference between a sale and no sale.

Where do you begin? By listening. The easiest way to find out what kind of customer you are working with is to listen to their reactions to your products. Their words will help you discover who they really are.

Innovators: We Love Cool Technology

School districts that are innovators or early adopters are highly responsive to new products and services. They are comfortable with technology and can be savvy purchasers. Show them your newest products. They like to be on the leading edge.

Keep in mind that innovators and early adopters may try to work out a deal that allows them to use the new product at less of a risk (think reference site discount). Innovators and early adopters are also influencers-- so what you sell them had better work, because other school districts will look to them for guidance. Spend time with them to make sure they are happy.

I recently presented to a group of superintendents. In the meeting, one superintendent said, "I'd like to try your service in my district." I realized he was an innovator. I then looked at the superintendent sitting to his right and asked, "What would it take for you to put our service in your district?" He replied, "I'm going to see how it goes with my colleague first. He's a leader. And if it works well for him, then I'll consider it." Ah, this superintendent was mainstream.

A good salesperson believes that everyone is going to buy your product. Some might buy it today, some tomorrow, some next year, or some five years from now.

Mainstream: Who Else Is Using This?

The second category-- mainstream-- includes what Geoffrey Moore (Crossing the Chasm) calls the early majority and the late majority: school districts that are right in the middle of the technology-adoption spectrum. Mainstream districts are run by realists who aren't starry-eyed about the new, nor tradition-bound by the old. They rely on references, track records, and a strong relationship with the salesperson. They usually do something after the leading school districts have figured it out.