In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers
The OD SIG had an interesting conversation last month, and here's what they want you to know.
On April 5, eighteen like-minded professionals gathered to hear about and discuss the concept of “provocative selling.” The topic was triggered by a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers.”
We were extremely fortunate in two ways: Nancy McMorrow’s effective facilitation enabled the group to engage with the topic and share a variety of informed and thoughtful opinions; and Karen Nash James provided a demonstration of graphic recording by recording our discussion.
Provocation-based selling focuses on finding a problem in the customer's blind spot that is in critical need of attention. In other words, the customer isn't aware of the problem, but once informed, is eager to address it. The focus is on uncovering a problem the client has, but may not recognize. Sound hard? It is. It requires insight to identify a problem and finesse to provoke the response.
According to the article authors Lay, Hewlin, and Moore, provocative selling is comprised of three steps:
- Identify a critical problem facing your customers: not what is keeping them up at night; but rather, what should be keeping them up at night?
- Formulate a provocative point of view: develop a new and interesting way to analyze the problem from a new perspective.
- Lodge your provocation: present your idea to someone who has the influence to take it to the next level.
The challenge is in foreseeing what challenges your clients will wrestle with a few steps down the road. Our discussion on ways to do that was lively and informative, and everyone left with new ideas on ways to enhance their OD practices.
The OD Special Interest Group generally meets the second Monday of every other month at 5:30 pm at Corrections Corporation of America, 10 Burton Hills Boulevard in Nashville. (Please note: this is a new meeting time and new location.) Our next meeting will be June 7, 2010.
We suggest you check your e-mail announcements to confirm time and location in the event of a change in a specific meeting. To be added to the OD-SIG mailing list, please contact Deb Tobey, deb@debtobey.com.
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