"You Gotta Know the Territory" is a memorable line from the opening scene of The Music Man, a Broadway musical by Iowa native Meredith Willson. It features a group of salesmen discussing the Music Man, Professor Harold Hill. "He doesn't know the territory" was said of Hill.
Watch the opening scene here!
You have to know the territory, including your target audience. You have to talk to your (prospective) customers to find out what they want. We once employed a person with a technical background to do both sales and product design. Soon after joining us, he asserted that he was not going to change a design just because some customers asked to have it another way. "Jimmy will take what I give him" was his statement. He later changed his mind.
You have to learn what the customers want and then provide it, whether it is physical features or ultimate benefits from purchasing your product or service. Meeting the customer needs is a critical step in achieving success.
That means talking to customers. It means exhibiting at trade shows and listening to people. It means taking phone calls from prospective customers to find out what they like and dislike about what you are offering. It means monitoring and participating in internet forums. Depending on your industry or market, it may mean being actively involved in social media. It means studying the competition and finding out what features they are selling that customers like (and dislike). It means studying the trends in your industry to discern what the unmet needs are now and what they are going to be in the future.
You need big eyes and big ears to learn about your territory.
I still like to take phone calls from prospective customers. And believe it or not, I like to take service calls too. (Finding out what people don't like about your product and what is causing them problems is really important!)
Our company is fairly well known in our small segment of the agricultural industry. Apparently being a recognized name makes the President inaccessible in some people's minds. A couple of years ago, when I was President, there was a comment in an on-line chat room-forum which said that "Richway is a good company to deal with and when you call in, you might even get to talk to the President. He takes calls!"
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