Does a vendor need to know the client’s industry?

“You don’t know this business. It’s a specific industry.”

That was the reply we received a few months ago to a cold e-mail about working together on developing a sales platform.

The client who sent it runs a firearms store 🔫

The questions that came up

As soon as I read the reply, a few lights went on in my head:

• 👉 do we, as a vendor, really need to know the specifics of the industry to do our job well?
• 👉 couldn’t the client tell us how the industry works, so that together we could create even more value for their customers?
• 👉 couldn’t the fact that we don’t know the industry’s specifics actually help us propose unconventional solutions, tailored to the user and based on the client’s domain knowledge?

How the conversation went

Of course, I talked to the client and tried to convince them that together we could build something valuable.

Unfortunately, I’m not a born salesperson, so I don’t know how to keep up the pressure until it hurts - and the cooperation never happened 😅

What was missing

In my opinion, what was missing here was a willingness to work together and a partnership approach - but also clear proof on our side that we were eager to learn about and understand the industry (or that we had experience with other clients from that sector - because we did 😉).

Lessons for the future

The whole situation shows, however, that knowing the client’s industry can be a very important part of the sales process, helping you build a credible and relevant offer.

So if you really care about a particular client, do your research, get to know their industry and try to refer to it in your marketing and sales communication. It will definitely pay off 🙂

You don’t have to know more about it than the client (you never will), but at least create the impression that you understand their problems and day-to-day challenges 👌