4 Reasons Why Customers Buy

I would like to welcome Vincent Matthews to ChangeForge. Here at ChangeForge, we enjoy hearing the many different perspectives from our community. While you may or may not agree, the ultimate wish for our community would be to create a platform to encourage and elicit conversation and thoughtful debate. After all, if we aren’t challenging ourselves to think, we may be missing an opportunity to learn.

And without further ado, the four reasons why customers buy, according to Vincent Matthews.

The key to success is focus. You must first load your gun. Identity the targets and accounts you will be aggressively attacking. Are they qualified? Are they going to buy? The next step is to aim. Do you have a plan to get the customer to act, now? Are you prepared to close? Finally, fire. Execute the plan. Ready – Aim – Fire.

The 4 Reasons Why Customers Buy:

1. Cost Savings
2. New Capability
3. Reliability Issues
4. Net New Addition

Cost Savings “You initiate contact”:

Everyone likes saving money. Let’s say you are leasing a Toyota Camry. The Camry does its job getting you from A to B. Out of the blue, you get a call from a rep at Mercedes Benz. The phone call goes something like this:

“Hello, Mr.. Customer. My name is Joe Smith from Mercedes Benz. The reason for my call is I know you are currently in a lease with Toyota for your Camry and I wanted to ask you a question: If I could get you a brand new Mercedes Benz S-Class, fully-loaded, for less than you are spending today, including the remaining balance for your Camry, would you be interested?”

What would you say? Where do I sign, right? The interesting thing about cost savings is there must be a perceived value the customer is getting on top of the inexpensive product. The difference must be noticeable for the customer. If you save them $1 why would they go through the hassle of switching?

New Capability “You initiated contact”:

Punctuality is important in sales. When you set an appointment, you are there early or it leaves a bad impression. What if your territory was one that it took a long time to reach each location and you were consistently late. Would you start looking for a GPS? Now, if that feature was only available in the new vehicles might you consider upgrading to a different model with that capability? Technology can help us all. If the customer believes that a new capability can help them in their daily work (i.e. increasing efficiency, productivity, quality) or can save money for the organization, then it is a slam dunk.

Reliability Issues “Customer initiated contact”:

Let’s go back to your Toyota Camry. As of late you have noticed it only starts when it chooses to. The car is overheating constantly and to top it off, the windshield wipers are temperamental too! What are you thinking about doing now? You want to get it fixed! So, you take it in to the mechanic and after you shell out a couple hundred dollars you get your car back and you’re still having reliability issues. What now? You are walking on to the nearest car lot.

You find a beautiful new vehicle and you are tempted to buy it but you remember to walk away and never sign on the spot…even if it’s a great deal. The story continues with your friend calling you up and lets you know that he has good mechanic that may be able to fix your car. Do you give him a shot? Absolutely! What happens if this mechanic fixes your car? Do you still go buy that beautiful new car? Probably not. The message here is that when a customer is having reliability issues you have a small window of time to get the sale. Just to be sure there is a sales cycle initiated here, you might want to focus on finding a new capability (reason # 2) they need while you have the opportunity.

Net New Addition “Customer initiated contact”:

Let’s stay with the car analogy. I am also going to add a teenager to the mix. Who gets the lucky job chauffeuring the kid around? You do, of course. To the movies, to the mall, friend’s houses, anywhere they desire. As soon as they are of age you will need another car. You will, most likely, be the one getting a new car as you pass on the old “hand-me-down” car into their possession. The same idea works with businesses. As they have a new department created or another location opening up, they will need more of what they already have.

How can I use this information to my advantage?

When you are calling a new customer during your tele-prospecting sessions can you be 100% sure that your customer is having reliability issues or adding a new site or department? No way! If that was the case, then they would’ve contacted you to request a proposal; hence, “customer initiated.” The only avenue you have is focusing your value propositions on cost savings and new capabilities that the customer does not have today. On the same token, a customer is only going to be receptive on the phone to changing vendors if they are having reliability issues and/or are opening a new location. If those factors are not present then they will see no reason to listen to your phone call. In either case, you will need a compelling value proposition to get the appointment.