“…you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view” – Obi-Wan Kenobi

Briefly describing solution ideas can be challenging. Although Obi-Wan may have been interested in the truth via his own personal lens, your customers here in the real world are interested in your recommendations and they need them in an easily consumable format. Even when concepts and tools such as minimum viable product and design thinking are used to shortcut relatively arduous cycles of solution design, getting an introductory value proposition and some basic “what and how” information to customers can still be difficult. This is particularly true when prospecting for new opportunities or delivering unsolicited recommendations.

One of the simplest methods for communicating an idea to your customers is via a simple Point of View (PoV) document. At its core, a PoV is YOUR idea for what your customer should do to address a specific issue and how your products and/or services can help them. The content and capabilities may come from your organization’s standard technical briefs, white papers, or marketing information, but the final deliverable depends on how you adapt this information to the unique situation at your customer.

At its core, the PoV document should include:

– A brief (and I mean VERY brief) description of the customer’s business or technical problem

– Your idea for how your organization can address that problem

– Some sort of solution design, architectural vision, process model, or other “picture is worth a thousand words” artifact that helps describe the solution

– Recommended next steps that you and the customer should take together.

Try this simple method. After your next customer meeting, dive into your company’s trove of marketing, white papers, boilerplate presentations, and technical information, borrow whatever you wish, mix it with your own knowledge, and create a professional quality PDF document that contains the elements mentioned above. Deliver it to the customer within a day or two of your meeting. Either via an e-mail or, preferably, print it on high quality paper and drop it off at your customer’s office.

It will give you an opportunity to:

– differentiate your company and yourself from your competitors and their people.

– leverage your knowledge of your customer and their industry to present your offerings and capabilities in the context of a unique solution.

– reengage with the customer and revisit the topic, thereby ensuring a follow up meeting that lets you further discuss the opportunity to address their challenge.

At best, the customer will engage in further discussions and your recommended next steps will progress the opportunity. At worst, you will learn that you misunderstood their problem or that your recommendation will not work in their environment. This then becomes another opportunity to learn more about how you can better serve your customer. In any case, you will emerge with a better understanding of their business and you will be better positioned for future success.  And bear in mind, this method applies both to new opportunities as well as helping your customers maximize the value of the investment that they have already made with you.

Now put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Imagine what you would think and how you would feel about a supplier who put in that much effort to address your needs. Imagine if the supplier did it constantly, conscientiously, and consistently. Your point of view may very well become your customer’s “truth”.