When working in the USA alongside a leading manufacturer I was often asked, ‘what is the good, better or best item you have’? From a selling point of view tagging the items in such a way clearly helps the quality of the offering and pricing. However the sales and purchase decision of both the vendor or the client can miss the unique selling, or purchase point, of each product and the advantage it brings.
The important part of entering any transaction is to be comfortable in the trust placed in the vendor, client and the product alike. Having a simple three horse race of good, better, or best is not enough.
Any project undertaken has to be planned from the standpoint of ‘what needs to be achieved as the end goal?’ A recent study (by The Collective Bainpport Industries of Holland) has shown that 62% of projects fail due to lack of planning, 29% by lack of soft skills within the workforce and 8% due to an over aggressive sales pitch.
To enable a satisfactory result analysis is needed, to find the Smart solution for sourcing the materials that correctly suit your customer’s needs.
The vendor needs to:
- Step back and listen.
- Fully understand their customer’s goal.
- Create a clear vision of the project.
- Precisely match the correct product to the exact requirement.
- Ensure a careful delivery of the end product to complete the project
Trusting your analysis extends beyond simply looking at the products on a desk in front of you. The smart choice is being able to look beyond, and identify, how those products affect the future of a project. This is the way to gain trust and ensure that you are offering a safe pair of hands to carry that project forward.
By adopting this imaginative approach and carefully understanding a clients business, enables a greater trust between stakeholders. Ultimately this relationship creates an environment where a clients business pain points can be dissipated and smart long-term business relationships can be formed.