We can become very busy trying to grow our business - obsessing over the right social media platforms, branding, visibility, networking, marketing - its a full time job and one that we didn't sign up for!
And amongst all that, it can be so easy to lose track of what is actually important, what is actually going to generate new business - its truly understanding your customer, knowing what deep problem they have, recognising what pain that is causing them, knowing their true desire and goal - and ensuring that your product or service will solve it.
As Stephen Covey said in the fabulous book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (did I say great book - really great book!) "Seek First to Understand before being understood". Think about buying decisions you have made - how often have you trusted people because you felt they understood you? They asked relevant questions, and peeled back the onion to really understand your pain point, or your deeper desire, then showed how they can help you - they built trust and you felt seen.
How much time do you spend walking in the customers shoes and/or seeking customer feedback?
At team meetings, how often do you bring the customer view into the discussions?
When running your marketing promotions, how evident is it that you can see and relate to your customers problem - as well as solve it?
At sales calls - are you and your team taking the time to ask questions to really understand your customers needs - or with the clock ticking, are you jumping to solutions, keen to make sure the customer understands all elements of your product?
Some ideas to experiment with:-
Identify some powerful questions to ask your customer at the meeting - this will help you keep on track and show the customer you care
In team meetings, appoint a team member to be "the voice of the customer" - their role will be to ask "why are we talking about this and how does this impact the customer" (if you can't answer that - then you are probably talking about the wrong thing!)
Try writing out in one sentence, exactly who your target customer is and how you help to solve their problem. This can become your go-to elevator pitch - useful for networking events, and can help you stay focussed on who you want to communicate with and what you want to say, when navigating the wonderful world of virtual marketing.
Lets bring that to life - I will use myself as an example.
I could say:-
1) "I am a qualified Leadership Coach who has coached C-Suite Executives and have over 20 years experience working with SME's. I provide one to one coaching sessions, Team Effectiveness Sessions and strategy days."
Or I could simply say...
2) "I help busy leaders and SME's take control of their time and maximise the engagement of their team, to achieve outstanding results for their business, employees and customers."
If you were looking for a Leadership Coach - which one would you pick? Option 1 demonstrates my credentials, talks about my products, but is it going to excite my prospect? Before the customer is interested in any of that, I need to speak to what my customer truly wants to hear. I'd choose option 2!
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