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Your customers: Bears, Lions or Eagles?
4/12/2010 1:12:05 PM
Tell me if this scenario is true in your sales efforts. You have been working to gain a new client. You followed a lead and have met and called this contact time and again. Your contact says he has an interest, but isn’t ready yet. You continue this cycle - call, not ready, call back, still not ready. One day you call and find out he gave the business to your competitor. "Why?” you ask. He answers, "The other salesman just came in the door on the day I was ready, dumb luck. His timing was perfect.”

One of the smartest things you can do in marketing your products and services is to be the master of time. Being the guy who walks in the door the moment the client has a need may happen to you every now and then. However, I have found that timing in marketing may have more to do with personality types and how well you know the customer. Let me give you my theory of the Bear, Lion and Eagle.

A bear, by its very nature, is a creature of cycles. Every year it goes through a season of eating and growth, followed by a season of hibernation, followed by a season of awakening. If you are a deer, the best time to approach a bear is in the middle of the winter. The bear does not hunt during the winter, it sleeps. The worst time for the deer to approach the bear is in the springtime when he is really hungry from a winter of not eating and will hunt anything that moves.

A lion hunts in a group, or pride. When food sources are getting low, the dominant lion will send the pride out to make a kill. They eat as a group and then wait until their resources get low again. They follow herds of their prey and eat year round. However, lions will not make a kill until they get hungry and are running out of food. And they do not hunt until the head lion takes account of the situation, (i.e. the number of mouths to feed vs. the resources available).

Eagles are precision hunters. Unlike most carnivores, the eagle has two distinct qualities that make it effective. First is its ability in flight. The eagle can fly higher than other predators. This gives it a distinct viewpoint that others do not have. It also can dive, strike and carry large prey with its massive wings. Secondly, it has keen eyesight that sees opportunities great distances ahead. Flying high above their prey, they can see the slightest movement of a tiny mouse miles away. They see food sources before any other predators know they are available.

In business, we also deal with people who are bears, lions and eagles. Bears work on a cycle. If it is not time to buy, you cannot move them an inch toward a sale. The key is to figure out when their "hungry” season will be and approach them at that time. Bears are clock watchers. I had a client that wanted to promote their strong customer service to their clients. Every day at 5 p.m. everyone quickly vacated the parking lot. In fact, they stopped answering customer calls by 4:45 so they could make their exit at 5:00 on the dot. The office was run by a bear. He could not bring himself to realize that if a client called with an order in that last 15 minutes of the day, the negative impression of his customer service crew not taking the call cost them revenue and handed their competition a new client. The key to selling to a bear is to become part of their cycle. Approach them when they are ready to order and leave them alone when they are not.

Lions are the watchers of the bottom line. You can never give a lion enough scenarios, price structures, revised quotes and the like while they try to work out their best deal. Watch out for the low-balling techniques of a lion. Quality should always be your guide, not underbidding your competition at the lower end of the quality chain. Lions know that quality is important, but can be enticed by a lower bid. However, keep in touch even when you know the lion is stalking the lowest bidder. Keep your ears open for discontent. When the pride is hungry, approach the lion. Be a connector for business information the lion can use to make a sale. You will find that when you can help a lion make an easy kill for the good of the group, you will have a loyal client.

Eagles are forward-thinking visionaries and typically make strong leaders. They have great creative minds. They hear a news clip and figure out how it will affect the company. They see new opportunities before anyone else sees them. If you can position yourself as the expert in your field who will work with them to find a creative solution, eagles will come back to you time and again.

So who are you dealing with; bears, lions or eagles? Your marketing approach should mirror their personality. Happy hunting!
 

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