As sales professionals, we’re supposed to really understand our customers, their markets, industries, businesses, functions, and their jobs. It’s critical in engaging them in discussions about the things they care about. It’s critical to be able to relate to them on their terms so we are credible and can build a trusted relationship.

It’s easy to say that.

If we’re lucky, marketing has provided us content and tools to help us better understand. We may have training on the industries and markets. We may have various “personas” that help us understand the roles of the people we call on. 

But who IS your customer?

In reality, we struggle to relate. We can read about CFOs, if those are our target customers. We can get a lot of data about them, down to the LinkedIn profile. But unless we’ve been a CFO, it’s really difficult to understand them, know what they worry about, how they think, how best to engage and connect with them.

So how do we fix this? Without actually doing the job, how do we better understand what our customers do?

It’s actually not that hard. Virtually every company has people doing similar jobs to those our customers do. Or we have friends who do the jobs our customers do.

Your company has a CFO. If you make products, you have a VP of Engineering/Development, a VP of Manufacturing, and so forth. They face similar challenges to those our customers face. They get salespeople calling them every day, they have opinions, and they know what they want to hear.

So if we really want to find out what our customers do, find that person within your company.

Start asking questions and start learning

Ask the questions you always wanted to ask a customer. 

1. What does your typical day look like? How do you find yourself spending your time?
2. How are you  measured? How does that impact what you do?
3. How do you set priorities for your function? How do you manage your team?
4. What kinds of reports do you look at to know whether your team is doing what they should?  Would you mind walking through one with me?
5. What kinds of things do you talk about in your staff meetings? Do you mind if I sit in on one sometime?
6. What are the biggest difficulties you face in doing your job?
7. What are the biggest issues you and people in your function face?
8. What are your dreams? What are your goals?
9. What keeps you awake at night?
10. What do you read to keep updated with things going on in your function and industry? Which blogs, which magazines? How do you keep informed and up-to-date?
11. What’s your reaction to salespeople who are trying to meet with you? How do you decide which salespeople you will meet with, which you will push to someone else, and who you will ignore?
12. What do you like to see a sales person talk about in meetings with you?
13. What do you see sales people doing really badly when they meet with you?
14. What did the best salesperson you ever worked with do to earn your respect?
15. What about gate keepers? (You may also want to talk to that person’s assistant and ask them similar questions.)
16. How do you like to be sold to? How do you buy?
17. When you decide to buy something, how do you really get approval, how do you really get things done?
18. How knowledgeable about your function do you expect salespeople to be?

The list can go on and on—they’re busy people, so respect their time. But leverage these people in your company. They have a vested interest in your success–it keeps them working. 

While every organization is a little different, you would be amazed at how much your VP of Manufacturing can teach you about what VP’s of Manufacturing do. It will make you much more comfortable in your next customer meeting.

Talk to people who do the jobs similar to those your customers do. Learn from them, they’ll give you a glimpse into their jobs and lives. 

Dave Brock has spent his career developing high performance organizations. He has held executive roles in sales, marketing, and general management with IBM, Tektronix, and Keithley Instruments. He has been part of the founding teams for Pertinence, Sports Retail Partners, and several other Web 2.0 and Enterprise Analytics companies. His consulting clients include over 100 companies in the semiconductor, aerospace, electronics, consumer products, computer, telecommunications, retailing, internet, software, professional and financial services industries. These clients range from Fortune 25 to startup companies and include Microsoft, IBM, SAP, Oracle, Google/Motorola, and many others. Dave formed Partners In EXCELLENCE, taking a unique approach to providing consulting services.   He has honors degrees from the University of California at Berkeley with a BSME and from UCLA with an MBA. Tweet him at @davidabrock.

This post orginally appeared on the Partners in Excellence blog.

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