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There’s a difference? Yes, there is.
I’ve been involved in a few conversations lately where it was quite obvious that what these folks were talking about clearly described sales-driven and sales-centric organizations, but not all parties to the conversations agreed with my assessment of the situation.
How do you know when a company is sales-centric? These companies…
- Do whatever it takes to close the sale
- Similarly, are commission-driven (no, I mean, really commission-driven, i.e., it’s all about the commission and getting that check at the end of the month/quarter)
- Focus on the sales process
- Don’t take the time to really understand prospects/customers and their needs
- Sell features and functionality, not solutions to problems
- Find customers for products, not products for customers
- Focus on making the sale today rather than stepping back and considering the bigger picture for the customer
- Conduct every meeting by starting with “the numbers”
- Go into “all hands on deck” mode when “the numbers” aren’t going to be met
- Sell the dream
- Can’t deliver on what they sold or what they promised (smoke and mirrors with regards to not only the product but also the services to support it)
- Focus on acquisition disproportionately over retention (there must be a balance)
- Have a leaky bucket that they keep filling
- Offer discounts galore (appropriate given that it’s end of Q2, and you know sales folks are scrambling to make their numbers today)
There are probably more (or variations) of the above. What would you add?
Obviously, those attributes are not front and center in a customer-centric organization. What does that look like? Check out this post, Customer-Centricity: What Exactly Is It?
Customer-centricity can allow your organization to make far more money from your most valuable customers who will buy from you more often and spend more when they do buy from you. ~ Peter Fader
Related: Restoring Customer Confidence?