"Are You Guilty of Having The Wrong Customer Advocate?"
November 1, 2005

Imagine the inmate who finally gets his day in court, after several years of attempting to get a new trial. His court-appointed attorney dresses well, speaks intelligently, and really listens to the prisoner's points about why he was unjustly convicted.

The inmate has relied upon the attorney's encouragement, and apparently careful preparation. He pins his hopes exclusively on the attorney's perceived ability and promise to gain a "not guilty" verdict in a new trial. He has spoken to no other attorney or sought legal advice. He has marked time, year upon year, to get to the point where he may be exonerated. Finally, the new trial begins.

After several days in court, and much deliberation, the inmate who has pinned his hopes of freedom solely upon his optimistic, well-prepared attorney, is summoned into the courtroom. The jury is asked for their verdict. The prisoner waits anxiously, confident that he will walk into the sun-basked streets a free man.

The verdict: "Guilty."

Have you ever been guilty of relying upon the wrong advocate in a business situation? Have you ever pinned your hopes on a customer contact who has assured you that all of your hard work will gain the order, and it falls through? I know that I have.

While the stakes may not be as high for a salesperson as the above-mentioned inmate, a tremendous amount of time and dollars can be spent by a salesperson, his management and company, in seeking a significant piece of business.

The tragic flaw of some, including myself, is relying on the wrong advocate within the customer's organization. Why does this occur? There are two simple reasons:

1. Salespeople want to believe that they are going to get the business.
2. Customer contacts want to be perceived as having influence within their company.

These two reasons can lead to a huge waste of time, which could be spent more constructively elsewhere with other customers. Or, the opportunity to really secure the piece of business could be improved if the salesperson has identified and effectively worked with the right customer advocate(s).

So, what is the remedy? I suggest the following:

1. While it is important to believe you have the best solution, watch out for being too confident about how its value will be perceived by the customer.
2. Be sure you really understand the customer's decision making process. Ask the customer "advocate," (the person who is "sold" on your solution and wants it utilized by his company), exactly how the decision to approve and purchase your product will be made.
3. Don't assume that the customer advocate knows how to "sell" your product to others within his company. If he's doing the talking with other decision makers, (and you're not there), he may not be able to overcome objections or deal with a lack of understanding by his associates about your solution.
4. Ask how other purchasing decisions have been made with similar products or solutions. Find out who the other decision makers and influencers are, and who has "veto" power.
5. This may be a tough one: Ask the customer advocate when a product or service he endorsed did not get approved? What happened? This may lead you to learn not only how the decision making process is made within the customer, but also the advocate's strengths, and weaknesses.
6. Agree upon the benchmarks that are associated with the decision for this specific product/solution. Once you understand the customer's decision making process, who is involved, the levels of authority, the potential roadblocks, etc.; you will have a much better chance to control and lead the customer's decision making process, instead of having it lead you.

In conclusion, we want to believe in ourselves, our company, our products and services. Further, we want to believe in our customers, and in particular, those customer advocates whom we believe will drive purchasing decisions toward our specific solutions. The last thing we want to do is offend our customer advocates by questioning their strength and position within their company.

However, like the poor inmate that placed too much faith in his attorney and remained on the "inside looking out," the salesperson who places too much faith in the wrong customer advocate can wind up, ironically, "on the outside looking in." Be sure you aren't guilty of having the wrong customer advocate, or, like our naive inmate, you may wind up losing the order, (or in his case, his freedom).