Recently, just to try something different, I signed up for a cooking class. The family is getting together for the Holidays, I knew we would be spending a lot of time cooking. Usually, my task is to supply the wine and wash the dishes. I wanted to contribute to preparing the meal, so I decided to take a cooking class.
There was a group of about 10 of us, with varying degrees of experience. We were in a professional kitchen, with two professional chefs as instructors. Our mission was to prepare a couple of appetizers and an entree. We had the recipes and the same ingredients, but the results that were produced were varied and fascinating.
There were a few, including me, thinking, “all we do is follow the recipe…” We measured the ingredients precisely, followed the instructions. The results were OK, not outstanding. For those of us that followed the instructions precisely, the dishes were indistinguishable–they all tasted exactly the same. It made sense, after all, we followed the recipe without any changes. One would expect this, since we were all following the same “recipe.”
But a few people, including the chefs, did something different. They used the recipes as starting points, but chose to “adjust, change, and adapt” them. Some of the changes were quite subtle, slight shifts in ingredients, shifts in measurements–some adding a little more of an ingredient, others adding less. For example, one person had certain allergies and adjusted the recipe to account for the allergies. Another was preparing for a group that preferred more subtle/earthy tastes, adjusting the recipes to reflect those differences. Even how they cooked each recipe varied a little. One dish had to be put under the broiler to be cooked. A chef decided to grill it over a wood fire and created a completely different experience.
The results were very different–unique tastes and experiences, though they had each started with the same recipes. Where those of us that followed the recipe produced the dishes, they were uninspired and indistinguishable. But those who adapted the recipes, created completely different experiences. The most experienced among the group were those that recognized they could deviate from the recipes, creating varied dining experiences. Those of us that were relatively inexperienced or unimaginative, followed the recipes without change.
We see the same thing–perhaps even worse–in the majority of our engagement strategies. We have use the same “recipes.” executing them precisely. Even though each target customer is different, we do the same thing with each of them. And these efforts are indistinguishable from others following the same scripts/approaches.
Great sellers start with the same “recipes” each of us use. But they adapt and vary them creating very different experiences for the customers. They recognize what each customer is most interested in understanding. They adapt what they do to the unique differences in customers. They understand what’s important to each person they engage, adjusting their engagement strategies to be most impactful to each customer.
Our scripts, our playbooks, even our processes represent a starting point. But we must recognize that each customer (enterprise and individuals) are different. To effectively engage them, we have to adjust what we do, increasing our relevance, impact, and meaning. We do this through a deep understanding of each of them, they’re concerns, how they work and their specific circumstances.
As a result, adapting our approaches to that which is most meaningful to each customer, we create differentiated experiences in ways that are important to the customer.
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