Five questions most sales teams cannot answer about their customer

Ask a sales team to name the fifth of their customer’s business that drives most of its revenue. Most cannot.

In 25 years selling components to OEMs and Tier 1s, the suppliers who knew the answer won the work. The rest argued about price.

Know how your customer makes money, and you become a partner. Know only your own product, and you stay a vendor.

The five questions

These are about your customer’s world, not yours.

Which fifth of their customers gives them most of their revenue. Learn who their key accounts are, and you can help them protect those accounts.

↳ Solve a problem for their best customer, and you become hard to replace.

Which fifth of their products carries most of their value. Find their core lines, and you can focus your effort where it pays them back.

Which fifth of their problems causes most of their pain. Ask which recurring issues slow them down. Fix one, and you earn the next conversation.

↳ The supplier who removes a bottleneck is remembered. The one who quotes a price is not.

Which fifth of their competitors puts most of their revenue at risk. Know who truly worries them, and you can position against the real threat, not a guess.

Which fifth of their new ideas opens most of their new business. Ask what has actually grown their business lately. Back the moves that work, not every trend.

How to get the answers

Your team will not get these in a price negotiation. They come from listening.

Ask, then ask a follow up. Write down what you learn. Come back with something built on it.

Most teams never ask. That is why the few who do are years ahead.

How many of these could your team answer about your top customer today?

If your team sells on price because it does not yet know the customer, the first conversation is free.