How to Make Your Products and Services Stand Out – Part 2
ByCLICK HERE FOR THE FIRST PART IN THIS SERIES
In Part 1 we pointed out that your customers will flock to your products and services only if they feel that you really get it; you understand them better than anyone else.
We noticed that many companies never create such a passionate following because they rely on surveys and focus groups which, even when well designed, are limited. There is a distinction, we observed, between Market Research and Market Understanding.
Today, we share some more insights for you to consider.
· The hands-down most powerful way to develop a deep understanding of your customers is to get out there to listen and observe. As often as not, the customer will say one thing, but their behavior will show something else. This isn’t malicious; they probably aren’t even aware of the discrepancy.
· Psychology speaks of the difference between our Espoused Theory of Action and our Theory In Use.* We often talk about what we want, and do something else. So both listening and observing give you a full picture. Ask open questions and then watch their behavior.
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, was known for his non-stop visits to retail stores; his own and competitors. He would get down on the floor and measure the width of aisles, take note of the lighting and so on and try to understand how that affected the shoppers.
When Google was developing the now ubiquitous Gmail, they would sit and watch how different people used their email, taking notes.
The CEO of a local company that was going to soon be offering software for call centers, took a part time job at a call center so he could understand what the lowly rep really needed to do a better job.
Proctor & Gamble has learned that they will gain a deeper understanding by just following and watching a handful of typical customers over several weeks than they can by surveying thousands of people.
Does your company do anything comparable?
· Peter Drucker observed that knowledge is the “one and only distinct resource of any business. Other resources, money or physical equipment, for instance, do not confer any distinction. What does make a business distinct and what is its peculiar resource is its ability to use knowledge of all kinds – from scientific and technical knowledge to social, economic, and managerial knowledge…”
Your knowledge, or understanding, of your customer will give you a distinct advantage.
· What is it that you want to understand, anyway? You want to be able to write a page in their diary. It isn’t enough to say that you are looking for women between 40 and 65 or teenagers who like clothes or companies looking to save money on their operations. If you really want to be able to speak their language, to get them to sit up, take notice and say “That’s interesting. Tell me more!” You need to understand much more than how they use your product – or your competitor’s.
· In my own consulting business I’ve come to understand that the client whose business I can really help is not just the CEO of a growing company. I’ve come to see that I can be far more valuable when the owner or CEO:
-
- Has their attention focused on one business at a time.
- Has a track record of both successes and failures.
- Has the maturity to appreciate that the wise thing is not to pinch pennies and do everything in-house, but to focus on results. And where those results can be achieved faster and more reliably with outside expertise, that’s a wise investment.
- Loves what they are doing and deeply believes that their company is a vehicle to improving lives.
- Has a healthy ego, not a big ego.
- Isn’t obsessed with growth for growth’s sake. Understands that if the company makes a bigger positive impact, the customers will reward them financially.
- Understands that it isn’t about big hits and big wins, but about small steps, consistently and persistently, over a prolonged period of time.
- Isn’t looking for a free lunch. Honestly and deeply believes in setting up win-win relationships with everyone they deal with.
· At the end of the day, the degree that your company stands out will be in direct proportion to how deeply your market feels you “get it.” Everything else can be copied rather easily. Acquire a deeper understanding, continually deepen it and you’ll always be a step ahead.
Is your market understanding deep and nuanced enough? What are you doing to continuously deepen it? To stay current with changes? Is it enough?
What questions do you have on this subject? Reply and I’ll do my best to answer them immediately or in a future article.
Are your customers excited about your products and services? Have you been surprised and perplexed by a low level of interest? We’ve found that the answers lie in taking bold small steps, again and again and again.
Be in touch,
Dov Gordon
+972-2-992-0396
PS – If you are involved in Pay-Per-Click marketing, Google Adwords and the like, you should check out Glenn Livingstone’s 17 FREE AdWords Cheat Sheets, Videos, and MP3s. I’ve learned a lot from Glenn and sent some of his free materials to grateful clients.
Glenn has a very strong business background consulting for dozens of companies like AT&T, Lipton, Novartis, Whirlpool,and many, many more. And, also unlike many of the Internet marketing “gurus,” Glenn successfully built 17 of his own AdWords projects in markets having NOTHING TO DO with internet
marketing. Glenn’s emails are one of the few I always read. http://www.PayPerClickSearchMarketing.com/r/a.php?MzYyj
* These terms were coined by Chris Argyris of Harvard Business School in the context of his decades of research into “learning organizations” and “action learning.”
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