A customer profile is a compilation of information about the internal workings of your customer, including everything from the company's history and ownership to its day-to-day ordering process.

By improving your understanding of the customer's business situation, his or her major motivations, the pains keeping him or her awake at night, etc., helps you develop a better relationship. And that's the key to becoming his or her supplier of choice.
 
Although the data itself is useful, the main value of the customer profile is in the process of learning about the customer. In other words, the profile questions are intended to stimulate your thought process. Remember, the essential value of this exercise is not the answers themselves, but rather the clues they provide for developing customer intimacy. Be creative!
 
Create a customer profile form designed to lead and guide you through a thought process beginning with how the world appears through your customer's eyes: his or her own company and competitive environment. The profile should continue with identification of key individual decision-makers and their needs, and concludes with tactical sales information. This sequence follows the process by which you nurture a prospect into a customer.

First, develop customer intimacy and understanding, which hopefully will lead to actual sales orders. Feel free to e-mail rick@ceostrategist.com if you would like a sample profile template to customize for your compnay's use.
 
How to Collect Profile Information
 
As privately owned companies, most of our customers are understandably reluctant to divulge sensitive information to a salesperson. So it's critical that you approach the data collection process carefully. If the customer feels you're getting too nosey too fast, you'll do more harm than good. Luckily, there are many information sources that we can benefit from before asking the customer direct questions.

It's recommend you start with these outside data sources to obtain baseline information, and then slowly gathering more sensitive information (which is often more powerful information) from the customer as your relationship develops. This process is a lot like peeling the layers of an onion, with the outer layers being easy-to-find data like revenues and inner layers representing more intimate information. 
 
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Key Profile Points of Interest
 
Revenue------ List major products or services that comprise the majority of this customer's revenue. You're not looking for fine precision here¾just trying to estimate within ±10%. Also, you may want to include a single "all other" category after you've identified the top several categories. Be sure to include an estimate of the customer's total annual revenue. 
 
Ownership------ Is this company privately or publicly held? Is it a family-owned business? Ultimately, the owners call the shots in any business, and so understanding this is very important.
 
Financial Performance------ If possible, find out how profitable the company is. Has its sales increased, decreased or gone flat over the past few years? Is the company hiring or laying off? Do they have a big bank debt that they must service every month or a large, untapped, credit line?
 
History------ When was the company founded? Has it made any major acquisitions or divestitures? Have former employees started competing businesses? When did the company open additional locations?
 
Locations------ List each location from which this company does business, along with the number of employees and trucks on site. Endeavor to describe what functions or services are performed at each site (e.g. headquarters, maintenance and repair, service depot). Be sure to add up the totals at the bottom. 
 
Markets and Customers Section------ You need to understand your customer's business in order to understand his or her daily concerns and priorities. Therefore, this section involves learning about the lines of business that your customer is in and the issues he or she faces in each. One result of completing this section may be a reappraisal of your potential with this customer.
 
Overall Description------ Describe the general lines of business that the customer is in and how he or she goes to market. Does a sales strategy exist? How does the company perceive itself in the marketplace? Are its markets growing or shrinking? Is it exploring any new markets or major customers?
      
Market Segment------ List all market segments the customer participates in. Many customers may have only one segment. Examples could include: residential new construction (could be divided into custom homes, tract homes, etc.); residential replacement; service; maintenance; light commercial; low end price seller vs. high end quality seller; etc. 

• % of Revenue -- Estimate the percentage of the customer's total revenue that each segment represents. Again, precise figures are not necessary¾just try to estimate within ±10%. 
   
• Key Competitive Issues -- For each segment, describe how the customer approaches the business. Does he or she have special strengths or weaknesses? Is this segment growing or shrinking? Do his or her customers in this segment have special needs that he finds difficult to meet? 
   
• Major Customers -- List your customer's top 5 customers in each segment, along with any relevant notes. This is often a difficult assignment, but it's the true litmus test of how well you understand your customer's business. 
   
• Major Competitors --List the top several competitors for your customer in each segment. You may want to note the competitive position, strengths and weaknesses of each one. 

Key Players------ The more you develop your relationships throughout the customer's organization, the easier it is to become or remain supplier of choice. Ultimately, any company is simply a collection of individuals, each with his own interests, motivations and biases.

Key players are the people who heavily influence the buying decision or heavily influence those who make the buying decision, and they obviously deserve special consideration. Keep in mind that informal relationships within your customer's organization may be more important than the formal reporting structure. For example, the receptionist or the repairperson that plays golf with the owner may be a key player for our purposes.
 
In general, "pain pills are easier to sell than vitamins." If you can identify a key player's source of pain and help make it go away, you'll be in an excellent position to cement your personal relationship with him or her.
 
The more you develop your relationships at multiple levels in your customer's organization, the easier it is to become or remain supplier of choice. The customer profile helps you get a better understanding of your customer's business. It should become your roadmap to successful growth in customer spend by supporting deeper penetration at all your key accounts.
 
Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distribution's "Leadership Strategist", founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com. Don't forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.

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