We all have a pretty good idea of what keeps our key customers up at night. Or so we'd like to think.
Truth is, when I ask most executives whether they know what the top three challenges their customers are facing, they always answer with a confident 'yes'. But when I ask them to list these out, they usually can't. Why?
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"We all have a pretty good idea of what keeps our key customers up at
night. Or so we'd like to think." |
The first answer is that they simply don't want to ask. Most companies spend their early days developing a product or a service, then spend all the following years fine-tuning the production and distribution of this product in the most cost-effective manner. Assuming the world our customers live in changes implies that their needs change as well. This in turn implies that, sooner or later, we'll have to change our offerings. That's something most companies would prefer not to hear about. So they practice the corporate version of 'don't ask, don't tell'.
You'd expect the recent hard times to change this. But if anything, managers are as inward-looking as they ever were. Obsessed with cost-cutting and organizational re-shuffling, they are missing the most important changes of all - those their customers are going through.
Another reason managers don't find out what their customers are losing sleep over is that they don't know how to do it. Too many meetings with customers resemble a strange ritual where the sole objective of the meeting is to get the customer to sign an order.
This obsession with closing the deal ("any deal, really, I just need to make my number this quarter") has serious long-term effects. Eventually the customer will understand that you don't really care about his or her business. Eventually you will lose touch with what the customer really needs or wants. Eventually a competitor who cares more, or listens better, will come and offer your customer something better. And when that happens, do you really think the customer will keep assigning orders to your firm?
But all is not lost. There is a culinary solution that might just save your company's life, if you pursue it for the right reason. It's an easy way to gain a true understanding of what's keeping your customers up at night. It's called Lunch.
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"But all is not lost. There is a culinary solution that might just
save
your company's life, if you pursue it for the right reason." |
We all know that people love to talk. And if there's one thing they love to talk about more than anything else, it's themselves; their challenges, their fears and desires.
So instead of "doing" lunch (or breakfast, or dinner), try "having" lunch with your customers: No strings attached, no purchase orders presented during dessert, just a friendly meeting to get to know them better. You'd be surprised how easy it is to learn more about their world, and even more surprised at how much you hadn't known about them all this time.
But the greatest surprise you'll have is your ability to develop and deliver solutions that truly fit the needs of your customers. And once you understand what your customers truly value, no one will be able to steal them away from you.
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