Eboat Planet

Note: This is PART TWO (2) of a THREE(3) part article series.

True Story Of How One Client Was Won Using “Felt-Needs” Oriented Marketing

I narrate the story below to illustrate(at least in part) how I employed the felt-needs strategy in a real-life situation. The expectation is that the reader might discover useful ideas s/he can adapt if/when similar or relevant opportunities present themselves.

—————-Start Story————-

September 2006, I walked into the reception area of a large Lagos hospital, and requested to speak with the accountant. The receptionist called him up on the intercom and passed the handset to me. Using my elevator speech, I explained that I provide MS Excel automation services to help business users get their

work done with AT LEAST 75% less effort and in AT LEAST 75% less time than they could using conventional methods, giving examples of other clients I had worked for.

After a few questions, he asked me to pass the phone to the receptionist, and told her to send me to his office in the hospital penthouse at the top floor. The meeting lasted just over 15 minutes. He was really business-like. I had hit on his VERY exposed “felt-need” nerve. He asked to see the demos of past projects I mentioned. I showed him the “Cash Inflow & Outflow Tracker” I built for business centers and the “Restaurant & Bar Manager”. Those two were apparently enough to convince him.

Next thing I knew, he took me to a computer used by his assistant, and called up what turned out to be a number of manual MS Excel workbooks used to manage their Cash Books for various purposes (tracking receipts and payments for the main hospital, and also movements to/from the different bank accounts). He told me he felt - from looking at what I had already done - that I would be able to help them automate their manual Excel Cash books to make them (as his Medical Director would later say) “more friendly”.

“So how much will it cost?” he asked(a question that often tells me the prospect is to be taken seriously). I told him. We negotiated

and came to a compromise. Then he ended the meeting by asking me to send in my proposal with a quote. I did that a day later, and went on to other business marketing tasks with other prospects.

I did NOT hear from him for nearly two months subsequently.
Some weeks after my last meeting with the accountant, my other marketing efforts led me to win a project to build an automated records management system for a hotel, which involved working with the hotel account and the auditor to build an automated Cash Book that generated a trial balance etc.

As I approached completion of the hotel project, I called the Hospital accountant to inform him that I had since

gone on to build an automated cash book for another client*. He told me they had someone who was working on an alternative, and as such he would only call on me if the alternative did not work. I thanked him and ended the call.

(I often do this to help clients move closer to taking the decision to buy, as it gives them more verifiable PROOF to assure themselves that I can deliver a solution that meets their needs. It’s a VERY powerful aspect of the “felt-needs” oriented marketing strategy because in doing it, you are using the CREDIBILITY factor of another paying client to MOVE a tentative prospect with a felt need close to making the all important

BUYING decision. You are giving him MORE real-life EVIDENCE that s/he cannot argue with! In my experience, if after you’ve done this you still do not get the job, then it would be best to let THAT prospect be).

Three weeks later, I got a call from him on my mobile. He said “Mr Solagbade, this is…. from …..hospital. We want you to come and build the automated cash book we discussed about. When can you come and pick up your cheque?”
I went on to build a fairly different type of cash book from that used by the hotel, to match the format used by the hospital’s accounts department. But the logic was still the same, so I was quite

at home with it.

Note: On 5th Feb. 2007, I won a much larger paid project with another Lagos hospital by using the above cash book for my business marketing demo to them. I was engaged within days after my first meeting/demonstration to build a custom automated Excel-based software to handle this hospital’s general accounts preparation from cash office receipts to year-end Profit and Loss reports/balance sheet auto-generation.

—————-End Story————-

Next: Part 3 of 3 - Powerful Testimonials & Repeat Business: Rewards For Successfully Meeting Clients’ Felt-Needs.

Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist Tayo Solagbade - works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably.

This article is based on excerpts from

my forthcoming book titled “Proven Strategies For Negotiating So Effectively (Even When Your Pockets Are Empty) That YOU Get Paid VERY Profitably And Often 100% In Advance !”. If you wish to be notified when this NEW book becomes available, subscribe to receive the Self-Development Digest?(my Performance Enhancement Newsletter) by visiting: [http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/news/sdacn_current.htm] [http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/news/sdacn_current.htm]http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/news/sdacn_current.htm .