I saw this mentioned in the architect thread. But I thought that is was interesting enough to start a new thread. And it is really applicable to working with any “customer”. It might be the builder/remodeler working with a HO, a designer working with a customer, a car buyer working with a salesman, a realestate saleman working with a client, even a husban working with his wife.
I am a designer, not of buildings, but of control systems. I often get specs listing what all of the controls are and what should happen when each control is actived. And if lots of FINE detail. But they really never tell me WHAT THEY WANT IT TO DO.
So I start asking questions about what they really want the system to accomplish, what kind of people will be using it, what kind of normal and adnormal condition that it will see and what kind of special precautions are needed.
For example take a simple system. They say that it will have a green button to start the $100,000 system and a red one to stop it. I ask “anything else” and the repsone is no. I ask what should it do if some one hits both buttons at the same time. The response is that won’t happen. I repeat the question several times until I get the response that it doesn’t matter, it will never been done.
So I say that means that if somebody happens to lean up agains the buttoms and hit both of them the same time that it is OK to destroy a $100,000 piece of equipment, because, as you said you “don’t care what happens”. They quickly change there mind and we work out a good response.
I find that I have a real nack for doing this and when I am done the client say “AH, that is what I needed”. I also find that I am good at looking at all of the little parts and seeing a bigger whole. Often we work out a system having features A, B, and C. But then I can show them how all of those features can be combined with just a little more work to add feature D and have a much more powerful system.
So the real “trick” is not listing to the words of what the client says that they WANT, but to use those words as a springboard to find out what the client NEEDS.
Unfortunately will I seem to be good at doning this for others, whenever I am the client I never find anyother that is any good at doing this. (Actually this is probably not true, I just though of a some dealing with my doctor a few months ago. But it does seem to the the majority of the people that I deal with. And probably a lot of it is my personality and that I don’t present my needs strong enough).
Here are a couple of typical problems that I have when I am the client. I take something in to serviced. The clerk say that they are backed up and it will be 5 or 6 days until they can get to it. I say fine that is no problem, I just need it back in 2 weeks. I go back in two weeks and they have not even looked at it. “I did not know that you where in a rush”.
My need in this case is to have it done in 2 weeks. He hears that I am not screaming and hollering to have it done yesterday so he can wait forever to work on it.
Another example. I am looking to replace my burned out central vac. It would cost $200 for a new motor. And while it did an excellant job of cleaning the filtering system that they used made a small mess anyting that you emptied it and if you tried to really clean all of the caked on dirt from the filter it ment that you got an inch of dirt on you arm and several more on the garage floor. Needless to say that I hated that part of the unit.
So I called on store to get a price on a certain brand that used a different system. The guy that answered the phone was a repairman and had never heard of that brand (the manufactures web site indicated that they where a dealer). I told why I wanted a brand with that feature (a cyclone filter) rather then inverted code filter.
His response was that the cyclone filters systems where no good and that the units quickly burnt out. The message that I got was that he did not have a unit with the feature that I wanted so he would bad mouth the competion. He want on to say that they had a better design for the inverted code filters. But at that point I was not listing to him. He might have been right and they did have an improved system and that it was better than the cyclone system. But he never heard my real concern that I was so snake bit by the old unit and that he would have to really listen to my concerns and present logic evidence that my concerns where foundless.
Replies
"Active listening" skills are in short supply. Too many people are working on their answer to you before they have finished hearing you. That tells you they are predisposed to an answer, and what you have to say doesn't really matter. Wish I knew a better way to overcome this than grabbing them by the ears and yelling, "Really LISTEN for once."
Insert "Take notes, I'll be asking questions later". Sometimes it gets them to pay attention and partake in the conversation.
Your dome creation... Good, very good!
Thanks Imerc.
>Insert "Take notes, I'll be asking questions later".
Yeah, but it's more fun to grab my wife's ears and yell at her!
I'M KIDDING!
Grab ears...
Now you dunn it... Opened the door and laid out the welcome mat.
Time to R&D... Better yet D&C.
Being lateral is great!
Your perspective is mind opening.
Thanks for the refreshment.
Your message struck a nerve. I started hearing the Hallelujia chorus in my head.
And I suspect you find frequently that when you're trying to find the crux of the issue the customer in question thinks you're not listening to what they're telling you! All of those important questions can be so distracting.
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
The worst part is when the client goes through the problems and what they want. Then you ask a question and they simply repeat what they've already said. Repeat. Then try and figure out how to come at the question sideways.
Then there's the really difficult answer to why: "Because maybe she'll come back if I do." OK. Sometimes I keep my opinion to myself.
Helping the customer get to what they really want is one of the neatest things about this job.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Edited 4/25/2003 6:59:37 PM ET by Rich Beckman
Basic sales 101.
I was thinking "identify the wants and satisfy the needs" from the first paragraph. Heard that spiel a million times thru a million sales seminars.
Makes sense on a basic level. Harder to use in the real world though.....try it once.....trying to keep a customer on track...I do remodeling....mostly higher end stuff....and keeping these people focused is like that SuperBowl commercial where they are herding cats.
Money be damned...till it's time to part with the money!
Good theory though
one trick is to take "hot button" notes thru the first meeting. Not so much the exact specs..but the "ideas" that really seem to get their attention..stuff that they're excited about.
Sales are closed by pushing hot buttons........(You guys think I'm ready for my own seminar? That sounded pretty good, huh??)
Sell their "wants" by covering their "needs"....and use their personal "hot buttons" in the closing......and life should be good.
Basic deal...people buy stuff they're excited about quicker than stuff they need.
Make it exciting...makes for an easier sale.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Jeff: You have nailed it!!! Let me join you in presenting your seminar.
Once upon a time,in a former life, I was with my boss trying to sell a system that would do "X" to a foreign country. They needed it desperately. But, the people we were talking to wanted a system to do "Y." Eventually they would need to do Y, but to the rest of the world, X was the real priority. Our system would and could do Y, but boss sat there trying to convince them that they needed to do X. They did not hear him at all. I kept trying to steer the conversation onto their Hot Button, to no avail. We missed an opportunity for hundreds of millions of dollars in eventual sales, all for the pig-headedness of one man.
Ya gotta listen to what the client states he wants - but as a client, you have to listen to what the salesman is trying to sell you. That is communications.
THAT is why I am in business for myself now. My motto is "There are two things I won't do - illegal and immoral. You want fattening, baby, you get it!" I etch glass. I tell them there is no minimum order, but I draw the line at etching only half a glass. Unless, of course, they are willing to pay me handsomely. And, once upon a time in this life, I did etch half a big urn shaped vase that I was paid handsomely to cut down the center. Even etched an emu egg once.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!