Have you thought seriously about your customer constellation message and how your company and your customer-facing executives talk about your company and products?

While traveling recently, I came across an unfortunate image at a hotel coffee shop.

Some really like bananas that have begun to turn. Others purposely let them over-ripen at home knowing they will be used for their sweetness in a banana bread recipe. The majority of the buying public don’t come to a coffee shop for the bananas with brown spots. The poor woman behind the counter surely felt she did as she was told by putting the bananas out for display in the first place. She was not empowered or simply didn’t take the initiative to say, “These are no longer suitable for the display case.” I initially identify this as a training issue.

I came back the next day, and here’s what I saw:

Now, we have a recurring theme of failing to (1) recognize the problem, and (2) understand the message being sent to customers. As you might guess, on the third morning the condition had not improved, and the pattern was confirmed. Now, brown bananas were in the case. Pretty sad all around.

What messages might your team be signaling into your customer constellation across industry, agency, and Congress? Click To Tweet

Is Your Customer Constellation Message Unsatisfying Like Old Bananas?

Have you thoughtfully examined what messages you and your team send when you arrive for a meeting with anyone in your customer constellation?

Could it be as unsatisfying as old bananas?

How would you know?

Did you give away any credibility while arranging the meeting through a failure to recognize the right time and place for the conversation?

Are you confident you are even speaking with the right person or people?

Do you know what funding will support the idea you are discussing? Remember the adage about funding: “If it’s not funded, it’s not real.”

If you weren’t present for the meeting, but a subordinate was sent, do you know for sure what was said in those critical exchanges?

Are your executives carrying the same tired message forward because that’s all they’ve been armed with?  

When was the last time you discussed how the message is resonating with the customer constellation?

Do the product sheets of your offering even align with a customer need?

Your communications are similar to strategy: they are never done. There is no final stop. Honing and refining your collateral, talking points, and contacts lists should be an ongoing process.

You’re working too hard to get the meeting scheduled only to lose credibility by not bringing your freshest material. Click To Tweet

On Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 1PM EDT, I will be conducting a FREE webinar on My Top Five Strategies for excelling in federal sales. Click here to register and for more details.