Improving Sales Performance
  • Home
  • Frameworks
  • Solutions
    • Consulting & Coaching
    • Workshops & Events
    • Peer Groups
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Books and Newsletter
    • Worksheets, Webinars, Ebooks
  • About
    • Our Founder
    • Our Team
    • Testimonials
  • Contact

Get to Know Your Clients Through Ideation. Here's How

7/29/2021

 
Sales team sits at table to discuss target audience using ideation, lightbulb in the foreground.
Two of the most important elements of effective sales are (1) understanding your clients, and (2) offering a solution that meets their needs. After all, if you don't know who your end users are or what they need, how will you possibly convince them to buy from you?

The process of getting to know your target customers and adapting your offerings to their pain points and goals dovetails nicely with the concept of ideation. Let's talk about what we mean by that term, and how it can help your team to improve their sales performance.

What is Ideation?

One definition of ideation is "the process of developing and conveying prescriptive ideas to others, typically in a business setting. It describes the sequence of thoughts, from the original concept to implementation." In plain English, ideation is the process of developing and implementing ideas.

Ideation is a big deal because employees and leaders that are 100 percent focused on going through the motions of their job will miss opportunities to improve their products, services, or strategies. It takes time and effort to temporarily step away from the routine tasks of your job and meditate on new concepts.

However, the rewards of ideation are well worth the investment. Just ask Beethoven, Einstein, and other geniuses of art and science who produced masterpieces through hours of deep thought. (But don't worry. You don't have to be the next Einstein to think up a great idea!)


Examples of Ideation

There are several examples of ideation at work in the corporate world. Steve Jobs may immediately spring to mind. His innovative approach to consumer electronics was the result, in part, of focused meditation on what customers wanted, and how Apple's products could fill those needs.

Google is another example (at least in its early days). At one point, the company encouraged employees to spend up to one-fifth (20 percent) of their time at work meditating on new ideas that intrigued them, and could eventually become solutions to real-world problems. 

Even toothpaste companies have taken advantage of ideation as a business strategy. For instance, back in the 80's the team at Unilever had to brainstorm ways to compete with the two "toothpaste giants," Colgate and Crest. The solution? The world's first baking soda and peroxide toothpaste, Mentadent, which sold very well as a "specialized" product.

The point is, incorporating ideation into your business plan makes good sense, and can open doors for your team that you would never have known about otherwise. So now the question is: How does ideation specifically relate to the sales process?

Integrating Ideation into the Sales Process

If you really want to help your clients meet their business objectives, then it's important to lead them through the ideation process. This means taking them through two important steps: discovery and ideation.

1. Discovery

In the first phase of the ideation process, you want to learn everything you possibly can about the client. Many companies will ask: "What's the main problem the client is facing?" and stop there. While that is a key question you need to answer, you have to go deeper than that. 

For one thing, you want to divide that question into two parts. What challenge is the company facing? And what challenge is the individual (or team) facing? It's important to delve into both of these factors. Even if you have a "big picture" solution in your back pocket, it may not resonate with your client until they understand how it will affect them and their team personally.

Ask the "magic wand" question. In other words: "If you could wave a magic wand and instantly solve all of your business problems, what would that reality look like?" And this is key: listen to their answer. (It's amazing how much of effective sales is listening to the client, versus talking to them.)

When you're in the discovery phase, come armed with basic questions like:
  • When is the RFP due?
  • What's your budget?
  • If we could fix this issue, what would that do for you?

This process of discovery is critical. You'll not only understand exactly where your client is coming from, but the answers to these questions will also set you up for step #2: ideation.

2. Ideation

In the ideation phase, your main objective is to throw as many ideas as you can into the hat. In order to do that, you want to bring together as many stakeholders as you possibly can.  This includes everyone from your original discovery session, plus any domain experts, the client's production team (if applicable), and so forth. Think of it as a mass brainstorming session with a clear focus.

Once everyone has assembled, draw a 2x2 matrix on the whiteboard. Mark your first column "individual;" your second column "company;" your first row "problems;" and your second row "solutions."

Start with the problems row. List out all the challenges and pain points that you identified in the discovery phase, both for individuals and for the company as a whole. (And remember, discussing individual challenges is a huge difference-maker throughout the entire process). Ask your audience if you missed any questions or pain points in the original discovery session. If they come up with any, write those down for future reference.


Next comes the fun part: brainstorming solutions to the client's problems. It's okay if your team comes up with ideas that are completely nuts! The point of this exercise is to explore all the options and opportunities that are open to your client, and think about ways to implement the best solutions.
​

At the end of this process, you need to make sure that there's follow-through in two key areas:
  • Who specifically is going to go back and find the answers to any questions that weren't answered in the session? And along with that, how will the answers that they find potentially change the proposed solution?
  • Who is going to take ownership of the solution by putting it in their proposal? Also, how will you generate the proposal in a way that the client feels like: "Wow! These people get me! I want to do business with them?"

The entire ideation process can take anywhere from half an hour to a full day. But if you take the time to go through it, your team may come up with some truly amazing solutions. And your sales performance will improve as a result.

If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, 
contact us or sign up for our newsletter for more valuable resources. 

Comments are closed.

    Meet  Me

    Picture
    I’m Karl Becker and I help individuals and organizations improve how they sell. My focus is on clear, concise, actionable solutions.

    In short, I'll show you how to increase performance and generate more revenue.

    This blog shares approaches, tools, and ideas that I have seen create success.

    If you’re interested in discussing anything, please reach out.
    Sign-up For Newsletter

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018

    Categories

    All
    Audience Engagement
    Building Trust
    Case Studies
    Change Agent
    Decision Maker
    DiSC
    Lead Generation
    Marketing And Sales
    Marketing Funnel
    Revenue Equation
    ROI
    Sales Alignment
    Sales Challenge
    Sales Compensation
    Sales Foundations
    Sales Funnel
    Sales Leadership
    Sales Management
    Sales Meeting
    Sales Performance
    Sales Pipeline Velocity
    Sales Success
    Sales Systems
    Sales Tasks
    Sales Team
    Sales Team Communication
    Sales Technology
    Sales Tech Tools
    Sales Tips
    Solution Selling
    Target Audience
    Thought Leader
    Value
    Virtual Sales Meeting
    Working Remotely

    RSS Feed

Improving Sales Performance
hello@improvingsalesperformance.com

© Improving Sales Performance. All Rights Reserved.


  • Home
  • Frameworks
  • Solutions
    • Consulting & Coaching
    • Workshops & Events
    • Peer Groups
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Books and Newsletter
    • Worksheets, Webinars, Ebooks
  • About
    • Our Founder
    • Our Team
    • Testimonials
  • Contact