When viewing pull in Lean Sales and Marketing, I think most people get it wrong. They think only about demand and obtaining a new customer. I think demand is something we use to have back in the 90’s, I suppose. When I think about pull, I think more in the terms of creating a customer which takes place on the edges of your markets. However, I don’t normally start there in my description. I typically start by explaining the concept of Pull thru 3 levels of engagement. I use it as a way of describing the value that a prospect /customer would recognize by your involvement within their communities. These three levels of Pull have been wonderfully described in the book, The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion
This book has been a staple of mine since engaging Lean with Sales and Marketing. Without this understanding, I am not sure that it would have ever made sense to me. The authors define Pull with the terms Access, Attract and Achieve. A brief explanation condensed from the book on the three levels of Pull:
Access: The ability to fluidly find and get to the people and resources when and where we need them. It is not about “Stocks of Knowledge” versus “Flow of Knowledge.”
Attract: Often we’re at a loss for what questions to ask, much less what to look for. Our success in finding new information and sources of inspiration increasingly depends upon serendipity – the chance encounter with someone or something that we did not even know existed, much less had value, but that proves to be extraordinarily relevant and helpful once we find out about it.
Achieve: To get better faster at whatever it is you do, you’ve got to be supported by a broad array of complementary people and resources from which you can pull what you need to raise your rate of performance improvement.
These concepts are well explained and detailed in the book with the second part of the book discussing the elements of a successful journey towards pull. They discuss; trajectory (where you are going), leverage (the ability to mobilize the passions and efforts of other people), and the best pace (the speed at which you progress). After we establish our notion of pull in our customer communities, this empowers us to start exploring the edges of these markets where demand is found.
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