Friday, January 22, 2010
The Magic of LISTENING to Your Customers
Throughout the early part of this week, I've talked about the importance of making connections with other business owners. They are not the only group of people with whom it is important for you to make connections, though.
It is crucial to make connections with your customers, as well. Yet many online marketers try to structure their business to limit their contact with customers to nothing more than handing over their money or, at most, a simple question or two in preparation for handing over their money.
You can make a lot more money, though, if you simply train yourself to listen to your customers. How do you do that? Here's something I shared with another group of marketers not so long ago about this subject.
+++++++++++
Ever dreamed of taking your $500 startup to the top of a multi-billion dollar industry? A man name Tom Monaghan did exactly that.
He did it in a way that industry analysts said was impossible. He did it by actually doing what his larger competitors only paid lip-service to.
And what he did serves as a lesson for anyone building a small business into something larger.
A story of improbable success
In 1973, Tom Monaghan ran a small, but growing pizza chain, Dominos. Ten years earlier, he and his brother had bought a single, failing pizza restaurant for $500. Monaghan had much higher ambitions, though, than running only one store.
He wanted to take Dominos into the top three pizza chains in the world. Experts dismissed his dreams. They said he didn't have nearly enough money to buy enough market share against larger brands.
Lacking the money to buy his way in the traditional way, he went at it from another direction. He listened to his customers.
What his competitors missed
His larger, fat-cat competitors paid lip-service to the idea of giving the customers what they wanted. They turned to "market experts" and their artificial market research decide on how to win the hearts of customers.
Dominos, though, developed ways to listen directly to customers and respond quickly to their needs and preferences. While the biggers chains guessed, Monaghan took action on what customers really wanted.
Dominos became and remains the fastest-growing pizza chain in the world. They did this mainly because they consistently are the first to adapt to changes in the market. They accomplish this because of the systems they developed for listening to customers and anticipating changes in market demand.
It serves as a graphic reminder of the value of listening to your customers.
Ways to find out what you're clients are thinking
Listen to your customers when you talk to them face to face. Pay attention to their questions. Note what they say they like or don't like.
Ask them questions. Even read between the lines to unearth things that they might not say about what they want or how they feel -- even things that they might not be consciously aware of themselves.
Do the same with emails or phone calls they send you. Keep a log of what you learn from their communications with you. Look through that log occasionally to spot patterns that can help you better respond to their needs.
If your business is in an area that people talk about online (such as health, decorating, beauty, etc.), follow those blogs and forums and take note of what's important to them.
What about using surveys?
You can even do surveys, either on paper or online. Be careful, though, not to bias the surveys by asking questions in ways that telegraph what you expect them to answer. Ask them in ways that encourage them to give more details.
Instead of, "Do you like...?" ask, "What do you like best about...?" Instead of, "Is there anything you don't like about...?" ask, "What could we do better about...?"
Keep it simple. Ask them at least three questions, but don't be disrespectful of their time. Don't expect them to devote an hour of their time to answering your questions unless you've offered them a nice gift for their effort.
As much as possible, ask questions that encourage them to give details. You don't want every question to request an essay, but stay away from simple Yes/No questions, too.
Instead of Yes/No questions, put them in the form of rating from one to five or one to ten on how much they agree or disagree with a statement.
Make sure that your most crucial questions get them to answer in their own words, as described above. While you may find those answers harder to categorize, they can reveal the greatest insights about your business.
Take action on what you discover
As you listen to your customers, make sure you take action on what you discover. Tom Monaghan didn't build his business so dramatically by listening to and then ignoring his customers.
He dug into their wants and needs so he could better fill them. Take action on what you learn from your customers so you can grow, too.
Final thoughts
Tom Monaghan built a massive franchise that nobody thought he had the money to build. He did it with a tenacious determination to listen to his customers and incorporate their greatest wants and needs into the services he offered them.
Listening to your customers is an absolutely free way to build your business. And, as Monaghan shows, it's a powerfully effective way, too.
Jeff
P.S. Did you find this article helpful? It is one of the chapters in an upcoming book I am writing. I've been giving weekly previews of that book -- and another book -- to interested readers. If you'd like to find out more about getting previews like this one on a weekly basis for FREE, check out the page where I explain what I'm doing and why. I'd love to have your feedback.
Throughout the early part of this week, I've talked about the importance of making connections with other business owners. They are not the only group of people with whom it is important for you to make connections, though.
It is crucial to make connections with your customers, as well. Yet many online marketers try to structure their business to limit their contact with customers to nothing more than handing over their money or, at most, a simple question or two in preparation for handing over their money.
You can make a lot more money, though, if you simply train yourself to listen to your customers. How do you do that? Here's something I shared with another group of marketers not so long ago about this subject.
+++++++++++
Ever dreamed of taking your $500 startup to the top of a multi-billion dollar industry? A man name Tom Monaghan did exactly that.
He did it in a way that industry analysts said was impossible. He did it by actually doing what his larger competitors only paid lip-service to.
And what he did serves as a lesson for anyone building a small business into something larger.
A story of improbable success
In 1973, Tom Monaghan ran a small, but growing pizza chain, Dominos. Ten years earlier, he and his brother had bought a single, failing pizza restaurant for $500. Monaghan had much higher ambitions, though, than running only one store.
He wanted to take Dominos into the top three pizza chains in the world. Experts dismissed his dreams. They said he didn't have nearly enough money to buy enough market share against larger brands.
Lacking the money to buy his way in the traditional way, he went at it from another direction. He listened to his customers.
What his competitors missed
His larger, fat-cat competitors paid lip-service to the idea of giving the customers what they wanted. They turned to "market experts" and their artificial market research decide on how to win the hearts of customers.
Dominos, though, developed ways to listen directly to customers and respond quickly to their needs and preferences. While the biggers chains guessed, Monaghan took action on what customers really wanted.
Dominos became and remains the fastest-growing pizza chain in the world. They did this mainly because they consistently are the first to adapt to changes in the market. They accomplish this because of the systems they developed for listening to customers and anticipating changes in market demand.
It serves as a graphic reminder of the value of listening to your customers.
Ways to find out what you're clients are thinking
Listen to your customers when you talk to them face to face. Pay attention to their questions. Note what they say they like or don't like.
Ask them questions. Even read between the lines to unearth things that they might not say about what they want or how they feel -- even things that they might not be consciously aware of themselves.
Do the same with emails or phone calls they send you. Keep a log of what you learn from their communications with you. Look through that log occasionally to spot patterns that can help you better respond to their needs.
If your business is in an area that people talk about online (such as health, decorating, beauty, etc.), follow those blogs and forums and take note of what's important to them.
What about using surveys?
You can even do surveys, either on paper or online. Be careful, though, not to bias the surveys by asking questions in ways that telegraph what you expect them to answer. Ask them in ways that encourage them to give more details.
Instead of, "Do you like...?" ask, "What do you like best about...?" Instead of, "Is there anything you don't like about...?" ask, "What could we do better about...?"
Keep it simple. Ask them at least three questions, but don't be disrespectful of their time. Don't expect them to devote an hour of their time to answering your questions unless you've offered them a nice gift for their effort.
As much as possible, ask questions that encourage them to give details. You don't want every question to request an essay, but stay away from simple Yes/No questions, too.
Instead of Yes/No questions, put them in the form of rating from one to five or one to ten on how much they agree or disagree with a statement.
Make sure that your most crucial questions get them to answer in their own words, as described above. While you may find those answers harder to categorize, they can reveal the greatest insights about your business.
Take action on what you discover
As you listen to your customers, make sure you take action on what you discover. Tom Monaghan didn't build his business so dramatically by listening to and then ignoring his customers.
He dug into their wants and needs so he could better fill them. Take action on what you learn from your customers so you can grow, too.
Final thoughts
Tom Monaghan built a massive franchise that nobody thought he had the money to build. He did it with a tenacious determination to listen to his customers and incorporate their greatest wants and needs into the services he offered them.
Listening to your customers is an absolutely free way to build your business. And, as Monaghan shows, it's a powerfully effective way, too.
Jeff
P.S. Did you find this article helpful? It is one of the chapters in an upcoming book I am writing. I've been giving weekly previews of that book -- and another book -- to interested readers. If you'd like to find out more about getting previews like this one on a weekly basis for FREE, check out the page where I explain what I'm doing and why. I'd love to have your feedback.
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