By Michael Smith, Bennion Kearny author and Vice President of Global Marketing at Align Technology.
The Touch System
To win time with customers, we need to find a way to stand out from the competition. Rather than asking for an appointment or meeting, the key is to give something instead; something of value so that you begin to become significant in your (potential) customer’s mind.
In 2011, Google commissioned a piece of research into how customers make buying decisions and coined the term, ‘Zero Moment of Truth’. The Zero Moment of Truth refers to the period between a stimulus and the customer making a decision to buy. Based on the research, they found that, on average, customers needed 10.4 interactions before making a purchase decision.
From a sales perspective, we refer to these interactions as ‘touches’ – and so we’re aiming to develop a system that allows 11 interactions over a three-to-six month period. This is known as a Touch System.
A Touch System is a way to break down the value you will give to a key customer into a series of planned interactions. The plan needs to include two elements – the activity, and the communication route.
These activities that create value could be varied but should be significant. Articles or summaries of articles of interest, industry publications, legislation, guidance, benchmarking, testimonials, or educational invites, to name but a few. Communication routes could be post, face-to-face, email, phone, message, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so on.
A clinical business manager recently said, ‘I don’t usually give time to industry representatives, but I am willing to. The reason I would give a sales person time would be if I thought they could help me to achieve my goals or objectives. So I’d be looking for them to begin engaging with me – perhaps sending me information that is relevant to my market, organisation, or role, or identifying things that they thought I’d be interested in. I wouldn’t meet someone because of the product they sold but because of the help they could bring.’
This is an incredibly powerful approach, and it requires us to:
- Select activity that creates value and which positions the sales professional as the Credible Expert
- Develop a series of 11 touches
- Plan to deliver regular and consistent value over a three- to-six month period
- Vary the communication route
In doing so, you position yourself away from the rest of the competition as someone who gives value first before asking for a meeting, appointment, or sale. You begin to position yourself as the Credible Expert.
90 Ways To Create Value
In order to get you started on your journey of value, significance and ‘adjusted reciprocity’, I’m going to provide you with a list of 90 ways in which you can add value to others every day. Why 90 ways? We talked in the previous chapter of the power of 90-day goals as an ideal time frame for taking action: long enough to see an impact; not so long that you can’t change course after those 90 days if required. So, if the challenge is to make a difference over the next 90 days, you have 90 ways in which to do that and one of the actions can be to do something for someone else that adds value every day.
The options as to how you do this are endless. Here are 90 and there are countless more in your mind waiting to be unlocked. With the multitude of communication channels now available it’s so easy for you to reach out to people. It wasn’t so long ago that your options were limited to telephone, mail, a face-to-face visit or fax. Now you have email, SMS, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Flickr, Instagram, WhatsApp; you can send them MP3s, MP4s, links to sites, podcasts and so much more. There are so many ways to connect. They key is using them and in a way which adds value. And if you really want to do some- thing different you could always send a postcard, a letter or a fax!
Some of these ideas may resonate with you more than others. That’s ok. Some may apply more to your personal life than professional life or vice versa. That’s ok too. Their absolute applicability isn’t what’s key here. What is important is that you find your own ways in which to add value and significance to others. This list is my list and I hope it provides you with some inspiration and ideas of your own. The challenge is to create it and then live it out as best you can.
- Acknowledge someone’s accomplishments or achievements
- Support someone in what they are doing
- Offer to be available to someone when they need you
- Challenge someone to be all that they can be
- Assist someone without doing it for them
- Motivate someone to teach others what they know
- Let someone know how much they are appreciated
- Give someone the credit they deserve
- Help someone get clarity on their vision or long-term goal
- Help someone to reach a goal
- Help someone define actions required to achieve their goal
- Share your own knowledge and understanding with someone
- Share your own experiences with someone or share someone else’s
- Provide an additional or alternative perspective to someone
- Actively listen to someone
- Befriend someone regardless of their position or social status
- Make someone laugh
- Strive to really get to know someone
- Teach someone a skill they do not have
- Compliment someone just because you can
- Compliment a person about something specific in front of another person
- Ask someone a question about what interests them
- Remember people’s names
- Remember people’s anniversaries, and special occasions
- Strive to be the first to help a person you know in need
- Help people focus on their strengths
- Help people in managing or negating their weaknesses
- Find out what kinds of hobbies people have and send them articles, links, or ideas on the subject
- Smile at people and smile when you talk
- Say ‘hello’ to people when you walk by them
- Express gratitude for the ways that people specifically add value to your life
- Say ‘please’
- Say ‘thank you’
- When you learn something new, pass that information on to someone else
- When someone asks for your help, do more than expected – go the extra mile
- If you are attending an online event, invite someone else from your network
- Pay for someone’s lunch or dinner
- Connect people who you think can benefit from each other
- Offer to act as a sounding board to someone
- Ask, ‘Is there anything I can do to help you?’
- Always bring something to the table – an opinion or idea
- Highlight relevant opportunities
- Share your knowledge with others. Don’t keep your best ideas and strategies to yourself
- Be honest with people – give them constructive feedback
- Be open with someone about your shortcomings – you will make them feel more comfortable to share their own
- ‘Catch’ somebody doing something right and recognize them for it
- Help people find their niche or ‘calling’ in life
- Encourage others
- Refer business leads to others
- Tell someone that you don’t know something they do, and let them teach you
- Hold others accountable to their commitments
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
- Challenge people and support their decision-making
- Push people’s comfort zones
- When someone fails, encourage them to try again
- Update someone on the latest industry trends
- Update someone on the latest news
- Update someone with articles related to their field of interest
- Send links to videos or blogs
- Update people on the latest product news
- Update people on the latest promotions or offers
- Offer someone a referral
- Provide someone with networking opportunities
- Provide information about a congress or education event
- Give someone the opportunity to meet a key opinion leader or thought leader
- Make yourself available to others
- Send someone a postcard
- Send them a birthday card
- Just make them happier
- Find a way to make a task easier for them
- Send them interesting or relevant quotes
- Help them make use of new technology
- Share with them the latest relevant digital applications
- Help others articulate their message or story
- Help others to think more strategically
- Use a story to help communicate a message
- Translate or simplify complex information
- Tell someone what others in a similar position have done
- Offer to do something free of charge
- Give a guarantee (for example, a money back guarantee)
- Provide free education relevant to their interest
- Write a blog
- Give someone a book you think they’d like
- Post comments on someone else’s blog
- Organize an online event
- Recommend someone
- Send an unexpected gift
- Help remove barriers or obstacles, perceived or real
- Provide a reference for someone
- Write someone a testimonial
