What if you focused on the customer need?
What would happen if you never told another person about what you do and instead you focused on the customers need? Your business would boom. That’s what would happen.
I went to a market the other week. While I was there I did an experiment. I stopped to look at things that interested me. Initially I said nothing to the stall holder. I waited for the owner to approach me. I wanted to test how they would engage me and what they would say.
My experiment confirmed my suspicions. Sadly, so many business owners have no idea to how to conduct business. This is what I heard:
The baker told me “All our products are gluten free”
The jeweller told me “Those are nickel free”
The fudge maker told me “We have 5 different flavours”
The clothing stall holder told me “All our products are made of bamboo”
Keep it relevant
In almost every case, the way the business owner engaged me was to bombard me with facts about what they do. They told me what was important to them.
I actually didn’t care about any of the things that they told me. They weren’t relevant to me.
I’m not gluten intolerant so I didn’t care if the biscuits were gluten free. I’m not sensitive to nickel so I didn’t care that the earrings were nickel free. I don’t like olives or chilli, so I didn’t care that the dips came in 5 different flavours. I wasn’t interested in the slightest that the leggings and crop tops were made of bamboo.
All these business owners were trying to sell me. And it was painful.
If you want to succeed in business, stop telling people about what you do. It’s meaningless. And it’s horrible to be on the receiving end. What you do is irrelevant. Nobody buys what you do. What they are there to buy is a solution to their current need.
When a customer approaches your business it’s for a reason. They have a need to fulfil. They need your help. You can’t fulfil that need, you can’t help them by telling them what you do. The only way you can help them is by finding out what they need.
Nobody buys what you do. What they are there to buy is a solution to their current need. Share on XHow do you do that?
The only thing that matters when a customer walks into your business is you find out why they are there. You must ask how you can help them. You must ask them what they are looking for. Then and only then can you guide them towards the appropriate solution.
I didn’t buy from any of the business owners at the market, because I despise being sold at. And so do most other people.
Stop telling people about what you do and start asking more questions about what they need.
Stop selling and start helping!
