A Zebra is a perfect sales prospect:

	A Zebra’s business needs match the promised benefits of your company’s solution
	A Zebra fits with your company philosophically, demographically, politically and culturally
	A Zebra likely buys the way you sell
	A Zebra allows you access to Power
	A Zebra is ready to buy if the return on investment is right
	A Zebra is the sum of the company, operational, technology, and service characteristics that define your best customers

Simply, we call this perfect prospect a Zebra because once you’ve identified the characteristics of your Zebra, you can spot it amidst all the other prospects quickly and easily. A Zebras stripes tell you exactly what kind of animal you’re looking at-you can’t mistake a Zebra for any other animal, so you know for sure when you have one.

The first step you must take toward creating a Zebra profile is to pull together your Zebra team. The information-gathering and analysis required in the Zebra process should involve input from a variety of departments. It’s important to include all of the major functional areas of your business in the creation of your Zebra because they may have insights that you would not consider.

For instance, the legal department may have important points to make about negotiations with your best customers. Human resources may have input on staffing changes necessary to better support the actual needs of your Zebras, or may need to be alerted to changes in how you will be hiring salespeople in the future based on the Zebra methods. And in the end, the creation of your Zebra will affect everybody in the company.

If you begin focusing on meeting the needs of your Zebra from a cross-departmental perspective, soon you’ll have the entire organization working on prospects, and subsequently customers, where you bring quantifiable superior value. The process will galvanize your entire organization. Everyone will speak the same language and will have a strong understanding and commitment to creating happy customers.