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Selling into dead markets

April 1, 2014 by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

I'm sure you're wondering, "Who in the world would do that?" More people than you might imagine. Here's what triggered this post.

I was having lunch with a banker who told me, as has every bank loan officer I've met within the past three years, that the only option he has for generating new loan business is to steal customers from competing banks.

He went on to tell me the names of some of the companies he was targeting and how difficult it is to garner their interest. In essence, he was telling me that there isn't a market for new loans — the market is dead.

Yet, his bank, and all competing banks, continue to establish quotas and insist that their loan officers spend their time and energy trying to sell something that the vast majority of buyers don't want. Then banks wonder why they aren't more profitable.

Implications

At one time or another every business, B2B and B2C, experiences a time where one or more of its offerings has lost its luster. A time when it doesn't matter how well crafted the company's marketing messages are or how dogged the determination of its sales force, the market just isn't there.

What are the implications for that business? It means that they're:

• Wasting sales resources
• Competing on price
• Lowering margins
• Creating a customer base comprised of price buyers
• Positioning themselves for higher customer service costs

Other than that, it's a perfectly legitimate strategy.

Alternative

So what should these businesses be doing? They should be determining what their existing customers want that they're not getting. Satisfied desires/needs beget new desires/needs.

From a seller's standpoint that's the beauty of human nature, humans beings are never satisfied. At least, not for long. You don't have to trust me on this. You know that it doesn't take very long for a WOW effect you've experienced to become an expectation, then taken for granted.

While that reality can seem exhausting, it is the source of tremendous opportunities for those willing to put forth the effort. Even more so for those who develop a system for identifying and satisfying customers' needs earlier than their competitors do.

Companies that do so successfully are not only rewarded with great customer loyalty, their customers pay premium prices to have their needs anticipated, then met.

Stop fighting nature. Let your customers tell you where their new interests lie, then help them satisfy those desires. Happy selling!

About Dale Furtwengler

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