Engagement Month: Stay out of the friend zone. Keep customers focused and engaged

Ashley Harpp

Customers don’t buy your product because you have a great personality. As great as you might be individually, they buy more because they have received value or believe they will at some point in the future. A friendly and personable attitude can go a long way but if you don’t understand your customer’s goals and where they are in the adoption process - you can risk entering the proverbial friend zone. 

It’s happened to me before. You have a great conversation with a customer and you know everything about them. You know their family member’s names, where they went for vacation, and how old their kids are. You know these things because you have that relationship and connection with the customer each time you meet with them. But there’s a problem. This customer isn’t growing with your product. And for some reason, you aren’t getting much traction when discussing the product and how they’re using it. 

Here are a few quick tips for driving real engagement when you feel you’ve hit a brick wall with your customer.

Know the data

 

Share data that is relevant to the customer’s desired outcome. Dig into their usage and adoption metrics and plan a meeting. Let the customer know in advance what you’re going to discuss and that you want to know their thoughts. If possible, share the data before the call and send them a list of questions. 

 

Introduce a new face

 

If you need help keeping the conversation focused, invite someone else from your team to join the next call. This will hopefully decrease those random conversations that happen 1:1. Ask the co-worker who joins the call to introduce the idea and speak to the benefits. 

 

Demonstrate the value

Prepare a presentation or a demo explaining why implementing the change will solve a problem or increase productivity. If you’re short on time or are concerned about conducting a live demo, send them a video walkthrough of you introducing the feature or product and ask them to send you their feedback.

 

Build a Success Plan

 

Explain the action items or steps needed to make the vision a reality. Schedule the next call and set a milestone date. The most important piece here is to encourage action from the customer. If the success plan is mutual, keep them accountable and lead them to success.