Who do you want to be?

My humble experience as a former country head and business development leader tells me that effective sales start from within our own company, emphasizing a systematic, or even better, an embedded sales approach. Placing clients at the heart of your organization is what they truly deserve.

In German, we have a saying, "die Sau durchs Dorf treiben," highlighting the inefficiency of pushing products without understanding the client's needs first. Adopting a "jump on the bandwagon" mentality constantly promotes the next best topic and product without truly engaging with the client. This approach is tempting because it promises scalability and broad market reach. Yet, this scattergun strategy can waste time, money, and energy.

At alpa solutions, we differentiate between product-centric and client-centric strategies. A product-centric company focuses primarily on the development and refinement of its products, emphasizing quality, features, and innovation. This approach places the product at the center of the business strategy, with the belief that superior products will naturally attract customers. In contrast, client-centric companies prioritize customer relationships and personalized solutions that precisely meet client needs, goals, and preferences.

While competitive products are prerequisites for securing a place at the client’s table, increasing advertising and awareness efforts without a customer relationship management culture remain a costly and inefficient product-pushing approach.

Close your laptop and leave your well-prepared presentation in your bag. Listen actively to your clients. Engage with them, understand, and walk the customer journey. Effective communication is about understanding first and then being understood. A product can be replaced, no matter how exceptional its quality and features are. Capturing and understanding the customer’s needs is much more beneficial to both the customer and the solution provider. This is what we aim for at alpa solutions, with a very pragmatic and hands-on approach.

#activelistening #customerjourney #CRM #marketing #sales #customer #clientcentricity