F O R E T H O U G H T S ALES

What B2B Customers Really Expect

by Philip Kreindler and Gopal Rajguru

Most vendors carefully research what
custom- ers expect of their products and
services, but few, if any, ask customers what
they expect of their salespeople. That’s a
mistake.
We interviewed 120 sales leaders in
vendor organizations across a wide variety
of indus- tries, from pharmaceuticals and
financial ser- vices to telecommunications
and software. We asked those leaders what
they thought custom- ers expected of their
salespeople and deter- mined whether they
incorporated those expec- tations into
recruitment. We then interviewed 200 of
these vendors’ customers to see what they
really expected when evaluating potential
suppliers and where they saw the greatest
need for improvement. The exhibit
“Customer Ex- pectations Revealed” presents
a snapshot of our key findings.
As the exhibit shows, customers put sales-
people’s subject matter and solution expertise
at the top of their list of important qualities.
Vendors, however, underestimate its value,
ranking it third among qualities they believe
customers want most—the same level at
which they rank subject matter and solution
expertise when recruiting new salespeople.
From the customer’s point of view, the
great- est need for improvement is in
salespeople’s knowledge of the customer’s
business and in- dustry (39% of customers
expressed dissatisfac- tion in this area).
Vendors are aware of the im- portance of
industry expertise, but less than 25%
specifically evaluate customer industry
knowledge when recruiting salespeople.
This may be because customer industry
knowledge is difficult to assess during a
recruitment inter-

Customer Expectations Revealed

Vendors not only misunderstand what customers want from salespeople but often recruit for at-
tributes that aren’t customers’ top priorities.
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COPYRIGHT © 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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 What B2B Customers Really Expect • FORETHOUGHT SALES

view or from employer references. Yet, as with

to be present from the start, while industry
subject matter expertise, salespeople
knowledge can be gained later. Our survey
shouldn’t acquire their industry knowledge
sug- gests that vendors would be wise to put
on the job; they should bring it with them.
indus- try and subject matter expertise ahead
Vendors rank professionalism—flexibility,
of so- cial skills when it comes to recruitment.
in- tegrity, reliability, responsiveness,
Vendors shouldn’t assume they know what
respectful- ness, fairness, and understatement
customers want. We recommend that vendors
—first among the qualities that they believe
interview their customers to determine
custom- ers expect of their salespeople. It is
which skills and expertise they expect, assess
ranked much lower in vendor recruitment
their salespeople’s current performance
criteria, however, because (as with industry
against the desired skills, and develop
knowl- edge) it is difficult to evaluate during
recruitment proce- dures and training
the hir- ing process. Professionalism is a
programs to address the gaps. Vendors should
critical at- tribute; customers appreciate it,
incorporate subject mat- ter and industry
too. But customers rank it third behind
expertise into customer satis- faction surveys
comprehensive industry knowledge and
and performance reviews.
subject matter exper- tise. It’s a difference in
priorities to which ven- dors should pay close
Philip Kreindler (kreindler@infoteam-consulting.com)
attention.
and Gopal Rajguru (rajguru@infoteam-consulting.com)
Social and communication skills such as
are partners at Infoteam Sales Process Consulting in
sen- sitivity, empathy, willingness to listen,
Zurich, Switzerland.
and pre- sentation ability rank last on the
customer’s wish list but are first among
Reprint F0604G
vendor recruit- ment criteria, illustrating the
To order, see the next page
common belief among sales managers that
or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500
social skills are more important than other
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qualities and need