As we approach our 20th anniversary of providing research support to companies, I recently stopped to think about what common themes I’ve seen across the hundreds of win/loss interviews I’ve done. This information can help you benchmark your own company against these attributes that customers across all of my clients find most important and use as key criteria when choosing a vendor.
NOTE: Most of my clients are in the B2B software space, but I think that what you’ll see here translates well into all sorts of businesses and even into the consumer world. Who doesn’t want EVERYthing they buy to be ‘easy to use/intuitive’??
The top 5 things customers are looking for:
- Ease of use/intuitive
- Modern look and feel
- Simple pricing model
- Collaborative salesperson/ NOT pushy
- Implementation consistent with sales process
1. Ease of Use/Intuitive
If all other things are equal, who wouldn’t prefer the option that is easier use? Ease of use leads to less training required before you can start enjoying the benefits of a new product. And in some cases, there are layers of ease of use.
First, there is the ease of actually using it on a day to day basis. In the software world, this could translate to user interface (UI) for people who are using the software.
There is also the ease of implementing a product and the ongoing administration of it behind the scenes. These are the things that an IT team or software admin would be most interested in. If something is going to take major effort or programming to get working, it is less attractive and ultimately could cost more than a more expensive product that requires less effort to put in place and maintain.
Some of the elements of ease of use also include search functionality, in-application help that makes sense and uses terminology that the user understands (vs. fancy terminology that you may consider proprietary), easy import/export of data, etc. I know that a lot of you may be technical product geeks and have lots of techspeak for what the latest thinking is about functionality to integrate into products, but the net net is this: products that are intuitive and don’t make you work hard are the ones that are easiest to use and have the fewest barriers to entry.
2. Modern Look and Feel
I’ve heard the term ‘look and feel’ quite often but it’s helpful to deconstruct it: look and feel is a term used with respect to a graphical user interface and comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces (the “look”), as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus (the “feel”).
Companies want a ‘modern’ look and feel. When I drill down on that, what I hear is that it looks clean, has a lot of white space, and is aesthetically pleasing.
The way a software tool looks can give clues about how state-of-the art the design is. Think about the last time you used software that had an ‘old fashioned’ look to it (think busy 80’s design with Courier fonts!) and how it made you think about the tool itself…a clean/modern look implies thoughtful design and a smooth experience for users, which goes back to item #1!
The other reason that look and feel is so important is that it seems to be an important factor for engaging younger employees. I’ve heard many times that the look and feel has to appeal to younger workers.
Often my clients want to group look and feel with ease of use, but they really are different things. The impressions of the look and feel are made in nanoseconds during a product demo and are very hard to undo.
3. Simple Pricing Model
A company can win business having higher prices much easier than it can win with a complicated, confusing pricing model.
Customers want to be able to easily figure out how much your tool will cost them over time. Something that complicates this is pricing that is based on multiple factors, for example, pricing that is based both on # of users and on volume of use.
Volume of use itself is difficult for people to predict. Pricing models that require a client to lock into pricing based on predicted usage/volume but then risk getting dinged cost-wise if they go OVER that forecasted volume makes companies nervous. It makes it difficult for them to manage to a budget which makes it difficult to get approval from Finance.
Something that customers seem to understand well are tiers of pricing that are clearly described regarding what each one includes and excludes. It’s key to have the ability to upgrade easily to a higher tier when a client has increased their usage or needs more functionality.
And, finally, make sure that your sales team can describe whatever your pricing model is very simply and answer any questions they are faced with along the way. If your salespeople find your pricing confusing there is a very good chance that your potential clients will, too.
4. Collaborative Salespeople/Not Pushy
‘Pushy’ is the one word that can consistently be perceived as negative when it comes to salespeople.
NO ONE wants to work with a pushy salesperson who is constantly hounding you for a decision and hammering you with why their product is better than the others. I bet that you just had a flashback to a painful experience you’ve had where you wanted to do ANYthing but buy from a salesperson who treated you this way.
The opposite of pushy seems to be collaborative. Collaborative salespeople listen way more than they talk, and can serve as a valuable partner to you during the sales process, helping you navigate the various considerations involved in choosing a product/vendor. They are considered value-added and transparent. Authentic is another description I have heard…
Clients like to work with salespeople who work this way because it makes them think that the company will treat them this way when they are customers, which is great for customer loyalty.
That leads to our last item for sales success…
5. Implementation Consistent with Sales Process
Obviously, clients don’t experience implementation until AFTER they have decided to buy your product, but they expect the implementation experience to be somewhat consistent with their sales experience.
When there is a significant difference in how they are treated and how they are made to feel early on in their relationship with your company, it can set a bad tone going forward and potentially have a negative impact on loyalty and renewal rates, which of course, goes back to sales/selling issues.
I’ve heard of situations where clients chose a vendor largely based on how well a company differentiated themselves during the sales process, taking a collaborative and partnering approach which resonated with them and made them feel confident that they would have the same experience as a customer. But in some cases, the implementation process made them have second thoughts about their decision. Things like poor project management, missed deadlines, features/functionality that don’t work like they were shown to them, and poor information-sharing between the salesperson and the implementation team can all contribute to a bad client onboarding experience.
Be sure to do everything you can to make the implementation process go smoothly for your new customers. Good sound project management and solid two-way communication are some of the key factors that can make a huge difference here. It’s important to invest energy and resources to this part of your customers’ journey.
Consider revisiting this list throughout the year to see how well you are doing on each item…and if you need information about how your competitors are doing on these same items, consider doing some research. Win/loss interviews are a great way to get these insights and we can help!
Leave A Comment