When you view a signed deal from the customer’s point of view, you are ready to engage Sales Role #7: The Teacher.
At this stage, you teach your customer how to achieve maximum value from the new product or service you have provided. Don’t expect that one training session with a few end-users will be sufficient. It won’t.
When a new product or service is introduced into an environment, it means change for the users there, and change is always difficult. For customers to achieve their expectations of value, they must first pass through a learning process–and learning can be annoying, frustrating and time-consuming. It is difficult at first, but gets easier.
If we walk through the sales process of helping customers learn, change, adapt and grow, we help them realize the value of working with us. The promise we made in the beginning of the sales process was: work with me, I’ll do the best job for you.
Failing in the role of Teacher essentially means we fail to keep our promise by missing the opportunity to truly deliver all the benefits of our products and services.
It’s like working hard for months to paint a beautiful forest landscape, but nearing completion of your work of art, you decide not to add any green, and walk away.
