Why Interviewing Your Customers is a Sales Superpower (That You Should Actually Use!)

Vinnie Hecht

Aug '23 in 🗣️ General

Salespeople, gather around.

I was helping

@Wes Anderson

draft up some questions for his client testimonials, and it got me thinking about how powerful they are.

We know the hustle is real. The game of cold calls, emails and follow-ups can be gruelling, but what if there was a secret weapon right in front of you? One that could help you close more deals and even make the journey of sales a little bit easier?

The power of interviewing your existing customers is one of the most underutilized yet game-changing sales tactics out there. So why aren’t you doing it?

Let’s dive into the benefits of interviewing your customers and why it’s time to finally get on board.

The first benefit of interviewing your existing customers is that they help you create better cold emails and make better cold calls. When you interview your customers, you’re able to extract valuable information that you can use in your outreach efforts. You can ask them questions like: What was the problem you were trying to solve? What was your experience like before you started working with us? What benefits did you see after partnering with us? Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your messaging to better address the pain points and goals of your prospects.

Another powerful benefit of interviewing your customers is that it helps you overcome objections when you’re having sales conversations. When you’re talking to a prospect, there’s nothing more convincing than a real-life success story. By interviewing your customers, you’ll be able to story-tell using real customer examples. You can relate how others were in a similar situation and how you helped them achieve the result they were looking for. This not only makes the conversation more relatable but also more effective.

One of the things that separate good salespeople from great ones is their ability to be empathetic to their prospects. The third benefit of interviewing your existing customers is that it will help you develop more empathy. When you interview your customers, you’ll get a deeper understanding of the problems that they experienced before working with you and learn exactly how you helped them resolve the issue. This will enable you to see things from their perspective when you’re speaking to new prospects, and approach them in a more personalized way.

The fourth and final benefit of interviewing your existing customers is that it helps you understand why your customers are loyal to you (or not). By conducting these interviews, you’ll be able to ask questions related to their satisfaction with your service or product, what they like about your company, and what they’d like to see improve. This will help you identify patterns that can be used in testimonials or brand messaging, or even make improvements to your offering, which will ultimately lead to higher customer retention and sales.

Let’s face it - it’s easy to get stuck in a routine when it comes to sales. But by interviewing your existing customers, you can change the game and make it easier, more effective, and even enjoyable.

By taking the time to listen to your customers, you’ll be able to improve your messaging, overcome objections, develop empathy, and ensure you’re meeting the needs of your customers. So go ahead, pick up the phone and schedule some interviews. Your future self will thank you, especially when those FATTER commission checks start rolling in 😜

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