The Commercial Shift | Issue Four
From supplier to adviser
Your biggest customer might trust you to deliver everything they buy from you, but do they trust you enough to talk about everything they don't?
Over the last three weeks we've explored value, curiosity and fluency. This week is about what brings them together and what earns you the right to hear about the challenges that really matter, trust.
The Shift
From supplier → to adviser
A customer buying from you doesn't necessarily mean they trust you with their wider business challenges. They might trust you completely to deliver a particular service, but there's a big difference between being a supplier they rely on and an adviser they turn to.
The real measure of trust isn't what your customers buy from you. It's what they're willing to talk to you about!
When they start sharing challenges outside of your obvious area of expertise, asking for your opinion or simply involving you in conversations without knowing whether you can help, that shows you the relationship has started to change. The biggest commercial opportunities come from this position.
Psychologists have identified three things that influence whether we trust someone 1) ability, 2) integrity and 3) benevolence. In other words, can you do what you say, will you do what's right, and do you genuinely care about the other person's interests?
It's the last one that separates transactional salespeople from solution providers.
Sometimes the most commercially valuable thing you can do is tell a customer you can't help them, and recommend someone who can. No expectation of anything in return, just a genuine desire to help them solve their problem.
Play the long game. It's amazing how quickly it can pay off.
The Gap
Are you a supplier or an adviser?
Think about your five biggest customers. How many would come to you with a business challenge that has absolutely nothing to do with what you currently sell?
If the answer is none, perhaps you're a valued supplier but not yet a trusted adviser.
Just think about the commercial opportunities that might be sitting inside the conversations you're not having.
The Question
If your best customer had a challenge you couldn't solve, would they still tell you about it?
The Action
Give without expecting
Think of one customer relationship you'd like to develop.
Ask yourself what you could do for that customer this week that would genuinely help them, even if there is no immediate commercial benefit to you.
It might be making an introduction, sharing something you've learned that could help their business or recommending a solution you don't provide.
Then make sure do it with benevolence! Do not attach a sales pitch and when you next speak to them make sure you are curious about what's happening in their world, not just the part of it where you currently operate.
Sometimes the best way to uncover your next commercial opportunity is to stop looking for one.
Until next week,
James
The Commercial Shift™ is a three-minute weekly newsletter accompanying our commercial performance programme, designed to help you think differently about your customers, your relationships and where the opportunities for growth really are.
The Commercial Shift Programme helps your business sell more, win bigger opportunities and unlock greater value from existing customers by changing how your people think about and approach sales.
Want to unlock more commercial growth in your business? Contact me directly [email protected] and let's talk about what's possible.
Find what's missing. Unlock possibility.
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