Sometimes its what they did teach you in school that counts. One of those times is understanding the position from which something or someone is observed. We call this a point of view. A story and even a business story can be told in one of three different ways and uniquely named as first person, second person, and third person. The third person is expanded to include Objective, Limited Omniscient, and Omniscient.
Approaching a customer much of our work focusses on offering solutions, solving problems. We could argue that most sales these days focus less on the solution but how it is delivered and integrated. An example might be Matt Dixon’s Challenger Sales Reps, who so happen to be the most successful sales reps. In the book, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation author Matt Dixon points out six attributes that showed them statistically significant in defining someone as a Challenger rep:
- Offers the customer unique perspectives
- Has strong two-way communication skills
- Knows the individual customer s value drivers
- Can identify economic drivers of the customers business
- Is comfortable discussing money
- Can pressure the customer
The ability to see from different points of view is essential for the Challenger and I might expand to say that type of company.
You should write business stories from different points of view primarily because of two reasons. One, it helps you define your sales and marketing from distinct perspectives and with a defined granularity. Secondly, it will help you understand your customer’s stories from their point of view. If you can do that, it allows you to know where collaboration can and will occur. If your stories are different, it is very difficult to work and be successful in that area,.It does not mean you can’t exist in that space but odds are someone will have to bend.
The question comes forth from most is how do you know your customer’s stories? The answer is sure you can ask but they might not know or even articulate it. More often, it is a matter of testing your story to their perspective and see if it resonates. See what parts of your story does not align and think of improving or modifying your story accordingly.
Points of Views are often easier to change than perspectives for both parties and moving between them you will often find compatible thoughts and structures. Remember the best story wins.