8 Easy Ways to Uncover Your Customers Wants and Needs

Wants and needs can be completely different! What I want for a car (fast, high horsepower, flashy) is far from what I need (gas efficient, low maintenance, dependable). Similarly, what your customer wants and what they really need can be worlds apart.

The success of your business depends on you understanding this difference and working with the customer to ensure what you provide meets or exceeds their expectations!

I wrote in a previous post about when I was brought in by a client to redo engineering work that another contractor had outsourced overseas. The contractor was looking to reduce project costs by sending the bulk of their engineering to a lower cost country. Unfortunately, they did not control this work close enough.

Do Your Employees Care About Your Customers?

What does customer service look like in your business? Do your employees care about your customers are they just “doing their job”?

It is critical for your business survival and growth that your employees truly care for your customers rather than treat them like just another generic transaction.  A customer service mindset must be purposefully built and nurtured in your organization rather than being left to chance.

I recently traveled to Houston for some business meetings. When I arrived at the airport and got my rental car it was pouring rain. By the time I got onto the Southwest freeway at 5:30 PM it resembled a large parking lot and not a freeway! After fighting the traffic for about an hour, I pulled off the freeway at Lakewood and had dinner at the Café Express.

After dinner, I jumped into my rental and drove to the hotel (Sugar Land Marriott) without incident. When I arrived and popped the trunk to get my luggage, there was nothing there! Someone had broken into my car at the restaurant and stolen my luggage! Fortunately, I had my computer with me in Café Express so it never got stolen but everything else did.

Who is Watching You and Why You Should Care

Do you ever get that freaky feeling that you are being watched . . . that someone, and you can’t tell who or where they are, is watching you for some reason?

Well, brace yourself . . . It is true! You are being watched! You are being watched by all kinds of people and you really should care. You should care because, for starters, you are being watched by your;

  • Employees
  • Current customers
  • Potential customers
  • Competitors

Why Are You So Focused On Your Competition?

The competitor to be feared is the one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” Henry Ford

I find it very interesting that about 100 years ago Henry Ford, the inventor of the mass production factory, understood that focusing on your competition added no value to your business. In fact, he knew that focusing on your competition takes your focus off your own business. Focusing on the competition causes you to chase others rather than leading your organization towards achieving your goals, mission and vision.

So if Mr. Ford identified the secret about what to focus on as a business leader 100 years ago, why are so many business leaders today so concerned about what their competition is doing?