On Provocation Selling

Here's an idea: tell your customers what they should be worrying about. That's the proposal made by by Philip Lay, Todd Hewlin, and Geoffrey Moore in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review (In a downturn, provoke your customers). Instead of trying to sell people the products you've made, or listening to their needs and matching them to the goods and/or services you supply, you take them a big, juicy issue and show them why they should be really, really concerned about it. Instead of asking them what keeps them awake at night, bring them something that will destroy any sweet dreams they're still capable of harbouring.

Lay, Hewlin and Moore advocate that you identify a critical issue, develop a provocative proposition based on that issue, and then secure a meeting. At the meeting, you lodge the provocation - and see what comes back at you. If the reaction isn't positive, you "retreat with dignity". If the reaction is good, you can move on to discussing war stories, and then offer to conduct a short, diagnostic study. 

I don't know that this approach is unique to the downturn, because I've seen it used effectively in boomtimes too. If it's done with too little preparation, the perps get known as scare consultants: they turn up every few months with a new strain of business-birdbrain-birdflu that's going to wipe everyone out unless the correct vaccines are ordered immediately. Most targets pass on these scare tactics, waiting to see if anyone else buys the line.

But if you have a good working relationship with your customers, then they won't see this approach as scare tactics. They'll accept that you're bringing the issue forward - together with a means of tackling the issue - because you care about the relationship and its continuance. 

This ought to be common sense; but I've noticed that some service suppliers have incorrectly internalised the principle of offering "no surprises" and now interpret it as meaning "no bad news". It's worth remembering that if there's something in the environment that's going to bite and maybe swallow your customer, that's a kind of surprise they don't want. As a trusted partner, it's part of your duty to zap these incoming asteroids before they hit the surface.

A further warning: don't feel you need to manufacture an issue in order to justify a provocation. Do some real research. Ask your people what the issues are in your domain, and you'll quickly discover the topics that your best folks feel aren't getting the airtime they desperately need. With so many of the old certainties stuck in intensive care, now is a good time to reflect critically on where your customers are heading - and how you can help them avoid the obstacles lurking over the horizon.