Many people in marketing have a serious bias.  They tend to believe that their product or service is exactly what every customer in their target market wants and needs.  They put a lot of time, effort and thought into development.  All the team members celebrate the creation and congratulate one another on their mutual success.  Before the product hits the market there is a very loud internal echo chamber declaring absolute acceptance.

Then reality sets in.  The sales force begins to hear customer objections that, to the development team, seem unfounded.  Of course the pricing is right….the customer just doesn’t understand.  What do you mean they are using something similar and don’t need to change?  Don’t they realize how much better our product really is?  Don’t need it?  How can that be?

Some objections can be overcome, of course.  It’s part of the “art” of sales.  But not everyone is going to buy for reasons you may never know.  When confronted with the “never buyer” don’t engage in fruitless pursuit.  After all, every no gets you one customer closer to a yes.

At R&A Marketing one of the valuable functions we provide our clients is telling them what they need to hear.  Not what they want to hear.  Sometimes that takes a lot of courage.  Sometimes it makes things tense.  But when the dust settles the right path forward always becomes more clear.