“‘Give the Lady What She Wants!’ is a famous quote by Marshall Fields, the pioneer Chicago real estate legend. He had it displayed on a sign above his desk in his office in the store (Marshall Fields) that he built in 1887.”1.
Our current challenge is building the trust and confidence of modern-day customers …that they will best gain what they need from using our products or services.
Curiosity is the place to start. The more curious we are about our customers perspective, the better we can understand why they might need our product or service. We can start by establishing the kind of relationship with customers that allows us to ask them deeper and deeper questions.
We begin to forge a customer relationship just by being likable.
And we can do that by:
- emphasizing how we are just like them,
- complementing and showing that we appreciate them, or
- demonstrating that we are working with them to achieve their goal
When our customers know we are on their side, they allow us to ask questions which better determine their needs.
- What questions might you ask your customers to determine the results that they want?
- What follow-up questions might you asked them to determine what the impact from those results will be for them personally and for their business?
i.e., Adequate savings will allow parents to fund their children’s college education.
When their need is clearly understood, we can effectively present how our product and service will achieve the results and impact they desire.
- How have you presented the results and the potential impact of your products and services instead of features and functions?
Ideally, along the way we are building trust and confidence that we are the right organization to deliver exactly what they need. Stories of satisfied customers help in this regard. Examples of how we have met challenging circumstances work as well.
QUESTION
- Which of your stories describe challenging customer needs, the actions you took, and the results that you achieved to satisfy your customer?
- Taking your customers perspective
- Clarifying their gain and
- Building trust and confidence
These are the foundation blocks for developing predictable sales and generating stronger results. They supply the structure to Give the Modern-Day Customer What They Want!
Chuck Scharenberg is the Founder of More Profit More Freedom, a consultancy that supports the execution of large-scale growth for small businesses. His practice has successfully grown businesses with processes that identify potential roadblocks and mitigation schemes to accelerate realistic execution.
1(furniture world, volume 145 number 2 March/April, 3/24/2015, Joe Capillo)