Walk A Mile In Their Shoes!

By Perry Rearick, Chief Editor, Follow Your Buyer

Fifty-two years ago, there was a popular hit song called “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” by Joe South.

It was on the Billboard charts and was a favorite among disc jockeys for a while. It was one of those songs that caused you to turn up the volume on your transistor radio when it was played. 

There was a lot of inter-generational tension in the United States at that time. Those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II found it difficult to understand the flower children of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and vice versa.

The song title is a saying that encourages us to spend time understanding another person’s perspective before making a judgment about them. The lyrics went like this.

“If I could be you and you could be me for just one hour

If we could find a way to get inside each other’s mind…

Walk a mile in my shoes…”

There is a lesson in this for B2B organizations and how we conduct marketing and sales. Too often we go from introduction to pitch to close in a matter of minutes, without ever taking the time to understand our prospect.

This week, when you’re speaking, or digitally interacting, with your customers and prospects, pay attention to how much of that time is spent trying to understand them, walking in their shoes?

• What’s going well?
• What challenges are they facing?
• What is not going so well?
• What would make things better?
• How can you help them? Not sell them!

But that’s not all! When listening to them, look at things from their perspective--walking in their shoes.

I hope you have a great week!