Successful Customer Conversions start with “same” not “different”
We are in the midst of a Melbourne Autumn and surrounded by a kaleidoscope of change.
Dried leaves as large as dinner plates crunch beneath our feet.
Shades of amber, caramel, scarlet & evergreen all having their moments beneath the spotlight when each of their deciduous hosts are ready. Their pace, their own.
Each year Mother Nature sheds her past to re-calibrate her future. Reminding us beauty is in the process.
Some of her deciduous beauties are quick to bare their nakedness. While others hang on. Determined not to be hurried. Clutching onto what’s familiar, well into Winter’s depths.
Sameness.
It’s the security blanket we cling onto when faced with change, to experience the warmth of the known. The only person who knows when it’s time to let go? The person clinging to the blanket.
Are our customers any different? No.
They cling to blankets too.
Like you and I, our Customers are creatures of habit, and habits are hard to break. Each Customer will have a rationale for their choices, & disruption will come at a cost.
It’s on us to make the effort to understand the “change cost” to our Customer when asking them to consider converting from a competitor’s product to our own.
Customer conversion is fickle, situationally opportune & often more subjective than we would like.
“Surely they’ll see the benefit if the numbers stack up?” we think, perplexed by our Customer’s stalling.
But sometimes numbers aren’t enough. Particularly if we haven’t zoomed out enough to see our Customer’s bigger decision making picture.
The journey of changing someone’s mind is delicate. Only they know what is at stake.
As a sales professional we must be mindful to not let our enthusiasm for demonstrating our product’s superiority, blind us from our Customer’s readiness for change. While features and benefits look good on paper, benefits will turn into threats if the Customer doesn’t feel safe with the change process.
Information alone is rarely enough to change someone’s behaviour.
The success of driving a Customer conversion forward depends less on the “why” and more on the “how to“.
It’s the “how to” that kicks the change process into action and delivers the outcome we are looking for.
Customer conversion is a process of behaviour change. Simply, people change best by feeling good, not by feeling bad.
Tips worth considering:
support your Customer in feeling successful
be patient with the process and your Customer
factor in time for your Customer to develop competency
Celebrate success
Trials and pilot programs are luxe opportunities to step through the behaviour change process in slow motion.
I like to map the Customer conversion process by reversing the traditional - focus on what is the same before introducing what is different.
Here is a four step process you might like to consider for your next Customer conversion:
Investigate
with your Customer, determine your aspirational goal
understand the cost of change
map the process into stages
*if you are a client & have my Planning with Questions & Question Design workbooks, they are your friend here!
Replicate
Identify any automatic behaviours which can stay the same for now
Agree on a timing of each stage based on level of competencies reached. For example, it might be a timeframe or a target number of times a process is repeated.
Differentiate
Gradually introduce new behaviours & manage expectations carefully
Phrases such as, “you will notice this to be different”, “you can expect this” are helpful
Highlight benefit of each change as you go
Create
Create space to refine & embed new behaviours
With your Customer, revisit your aspirational goal
Collect data & periodically reflect on lessons learned through the process
A little predictability in an unpredictable world softens anyone’s landing.
I’d love to hear how you go!
Peta x
Sales Coach | Commercial Growth Consultant | Author
Speaker with Beyond Blue
My Customer Conversion Masterclass is now available for teams - in person or virtually. Please reach out below if you’d like to explore working together.