Relevant Selling
Research Proves Customers Value More Than Just Price
By: Jaynie L. Smith, Craig Mowrey, Mark Steisel
Published: April 1, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 270 pages
ISBN-10: 0615564038
ISBN-13: 978-0615564036
Publisher: Executive Suite Press, Inc.
"Most business simply do not align their operation with their customers' priorities - internally or externally", writes strategist and Founder and CEO of Founder and CEO of Smart Advantage, Inc., Jaynie L. Smith; Senior Partner at Founder and CEO of Smart Advantage, Inc., Craig Mowrey; and writer and editor Mark Steisel, in their research based and results oriented book Relevant Selling: Research Proves Customers Value More Than Just Price. The authors describe how their research demonstrates that companies have little internal agreement or understanding of what is really wanted by customers; and that the main customer desire not simply lower prices.
Jaynie Smith and her co-authors understand that it is critical to learn what is fundamentally most important to customers. For many business leaders, there is a complete disconnect between how customers perceive value, and how the company strategists think that customers perceive that value. Without this deeper consideration of what value really means, company decision makers will think mistakenly that value equates to pricing. When this mistaken belief about what customers want becomes the ruling paradigm in the company, the essential customer perspective is ignored and not given consideration. The authors consider this neglect of what is truly relevant to the customer a serious mistake that costs the company in lost sales and reduced profits.
Jayne L. Smith (photo left), Craig Mowrey, and Mark Steisel offer an effective alternative concept in the form of what they call relevant selling. Instead of ignoring customers, or assuming that the company decision makers know better what those customers are seeking, relevant selling emphasizes the importance of listening to and really hearing customers. This listening process will uncover what is truly important to customers, prospects, and the various target market segments. With a deeper knowledge of how customers perceive value and what is relevant to them, a more personal marketing message can be crafted and delivered to those audiences.
The authors present a complete examination of customer relevance and share the techniques and strategies for delivering a tailored message. Instead of being similar to other companies, relevant selling offers a method for being truly different from the competition. This real differentiation creates a positive and effective competitive advantage. Instead of guesswork, the authors share a quantitative research method that ranks the products being sold at present; as well as measuring the relevance and response to how those goods are being sold.
For me, the power of the book is how Jaynie Smith, Craig Mowrey, and Mark Steisel provide a comprehensive and research based strategy to understanding customers. The authors offer a concept the actually listens to customers, and values what they consider relevant. The principles of relevant selling go far beyond ideas found in the typical sales how to books. Relevant selling comprise a complete transformation of the company culture, including the firm's strategic planning, its view of customers, and what to measure for understanding the results of relevant selling.
The authors share a complete blueprint for integrating relevant selling into the new company culture. At the same time, the concept creates a measurable and repeatable process for applying relevant selling across the entire organization. The authors enhance their presentation with a group of case studies that illustrate the principles and practices of relevant selling, in action, in the real world marketplace.
I highly recommend the transformational and customer focuses book Relevant Selling: Research Proves Customers Value More Than Just Price by Jaynie L. Smith, Craig Mowrey, and Mark Steisel, to any business leaders, executives, and decision makers who are serious about truly understanding the real thinking and perspectives of their customers. This book will not only change how you think about and listen to your customers, it will create a sea change in how your company operates, as you utilize your new competitive advantage to become a market leader.
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