520 You Don’t Have a Sales Problem. You Have an Insight Problem

Speaker A: Bullshit. Companies will say, we've got a sales problem, we've got a marketing problem, when actually, more often than not, it's an insight problem. It's the no Bullshit Marketing show. I'm Dave Mastovich. I've heard those phrases, sales is the problem, or we've got to fix our marketing hundreds, if not thousands of times. And while, uh, it can be partially true, more often than not, it really comes down to a lack of insights. And what's an insight problem? It's when you don't know what your customers really are thinking. You don't know why some customers buy and others don't. You aren't aware of that one thing that your customers wish you would change, or you don't know what they wish you'd offer. And you don't. You're not sure what's frustrating them or what's really bringing them the most value. And that's when you've got an insight problem. Now, uh, what are the warning signs of an insight problem? Well, the first is when sales and marketing disagree on why customers buy. The second is when different leaders have different answers to the question, what's our competitive advantage? Another one is when sales is relying on history, anecdotal information, hyperbole, or when marketing is creating content that the company wants to say. It's what's happening whenever you have your biggest amount of feedback coming from salespeople or account managers. Another sign is when leaders continually try tactics without really knowing the why and what the thoughts are of your customers. So you have to be able to realize when you've got an insight problem and have to go out and start gathering those insights. Because otherwise you're making decisions based on assumptions, internal opinions, and incomplete information. You're not sure about what the buyers actually want from think and feel, yet you're making decisions about what they would buy, when and where, and how they'd buy it. We recently helped a client in this situation. We reached out and had candid conversations with some of their clients. And what came back was what enabled us to help them alter what they were offering, how they were selling it, what they were saying, and how their story was told again and again and again. It enabled them to change their whole perspective on their sales process, their sales messaging, the frequency of those cells touches, what was said and what was asked, most importantly, what was asked. And it helped them to work on their branding and their outbound marketing, um, and messaging and storytelling, so that it was more accurate to the brand, more accurate to what customers wanted, and was able to help the sales team with tools that got them closer to yes or to no. You want to reduce that ambiguity. Now here's the thing about it. It's not about having another survey. That's not it at all. It's about having candid conversations with an outside party, talking to the key target audiences that you have. And those target audiences could be current customers, could be current employees, could be current referral sources, your leadership team, managers, vendors, strategic partners. But the key is you're having candid, confidential conversations from an outside party because those target audiences will tell an outside party things that they won't tell you. Now that's the first thing, is having the wherewithal to say, I'm going to commit to systematically gathering insights. I'm going to commit to going out and asking the questions. Then the second part is listening. And listening well. Sounds easy. It isn't. So you've got to have that outside party that they'll tell the things to the two that they don't tell you. And you got to have an outside party that can listen and listen well. Still, that's only part of the game. The third part is connecting the dots, seeing the patterns, and then taking those insights and turning them into solutions and stories that are what drive growth. So you've got the wherewithal to ask the questions with an outside party. They've got to be able to listen and listen well. Then they've got to be able to connect the dots and pattern match and see what's coming, read the tea leaves, and then come back with solutions and stories that are going to resonate and solve your growth challenges. That's what this is all about. That's how you fight your insight problem, which will change your sales problem and your marketing problem and you'll drive growth. If you're looking for growth, if you want and need to grow, that's the most important thing. If you want and need to grow, reach out. We'll accelerate your growth together. Thanks for listening to another episode of the no Bullshit Marketing show Bullshit.