Steal these 3 tactics for knowing thy customer
Dating back to the ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself", we humans have engaged in a search for self-understanding. Any pop psychology book worth its prominent placement at the airport bookstore will tell you:
Focus your energy on what you can control.
You can't change what's going on around you until you change what's going on within you.
Stick to intrinsic values and abundance will follow.
You know what? This is a handy little philosophy for customer research, too!
Our customer inquiry is by far the most effective way to understand what we're doing well and where we're falling short. We should take seriously the responsibility of knowing their mindset, seeing what forms their biases. It's an awesome privilege to learn about the people who make your thing worth making.
Take these three tactics into your next customer conversation. Remember, a customer is whoever you rely on for your success. It might be your prospective tenant, a demanding client, or a shopper in your store.
I promise you'll come away with new insights that challenge your beliefs and remind you, politely, that customer behavior can be complex, irrational, and a little bit funny.
To be interesting, become interested.
Get curious about your customers. To serve them well, you need to like them. Otherwise, what motivates you to build on their behalf?
Stay curious just a little bit longer to get to the root of their problem or purchase.
If Bob the Builder shows up to your hardware shop with a hammer and you turn him away because you’re out of nails, don't be surprised when Bob gives his cash to your competitor who was ready to sell Bob a toolbox.
Keep questions open ended for better data and deeper insights.
Don’t get stuck in binary, either/or thinking. It’s limited at best and detrimental at worst. This questioning style gets us stuck in one way of seeing the bigger picture. It limits our ability to take in other perspectives that could lead to more creative or valuable results.
When talking with customers, the power of your analysis should come from their response, not their response options. What I mean is, by asking open ended questions, the person you're talking with has the freedom to contextualize their responses.
If you ask Bob a question that is confined to a Yes or No response (like "Did you enjoy your visit to our hardware store?") then you're going to get a boring, unhelpful, non-juicy answer.
Keep the focus on the person, not the product.
So often brands want to create a customer journey map that doesn't show the "customer" journey at all. It's just a stick figure with their marketing plan laid across the page horizontally!
Don't forget that Bob has a life outside the store, off the app, beyond your advertising. Bob works, he goes to soccer games, he hits the gym, he sleeps in late, he cooks for his family.
Customers make decisions for their world, and those decisions impact their relationship with your tiny slice of their journey.
Asking great questions is the single shift in your customer strategy that will help you further qualify your prospects, close more deals, and increase recurring revenue for your company.