Absolute bandwagoning!

There's no link between world cup football and engineering sales

However I've noticed something about customers sharing requirements

They're often very specific

"We need a machine"

"We need a system"

"We need a solution"

And it's tempting for salespeople to take that at face value

The customer asks for a machine

The supplier responds with a machine

Seems logical

Why wouldn't you?

But sometimes the most important part of the conversation never happened

- What's driving the requirement?
- What's the pressure behind it?
- Why now?
- What happens if nothing changes?

I've found that the strongest technical salespeople become curious about things that sit beyond the specification

The operation

The pressures

The bottlenecks

The ambitions

The goals

(Goals! Suppose I should put a tenuous football reference here but there isn't one... so on with the engineering sales stuff)

Customers rarely make decisions in isolation

There's usually a bigger story sitting underneath the requirement

And often, that's where the real opportunity is

Structure helps uncover it. Like the VALUE Framework

🔸 Validate = right opportunities

Understand whether the requirement is linked to a problem worth solving

🔸 Align = right research

Explore the context around the request, not just the request itself

🔸 Leverage = right conversations

Ask questions that reveal what's driving the need

🔸 Underpin = right solutions

Connect solutions to the wider business challenge

🔸 Evolve = right outcomes

Keep attention on what the customer is trying to achieve

I find that the interesting thing is that the more curious you become about the customer's world... the more relevant your own tends to become

And that's often where better conversations start

The foundations for a win are laid (I did it!)

(Absolute bandwagon jumping here... but why not?)