There is a continuous evolution of customers. In the marketplace today, there is the rise of an army of super-enlightened customers. These customers have myriads of options like never before in human history.
These customers have the unmatched ability to price, critique, and purchase anytime, anywhere. They have any desired information or service available on any appropriate device, in context, at their moments of need. This reaffirms the statement that a customer is king.
Customers come first
In every business, the customers and their needs always come first. Without a scalable path to customers, even the best products die a silent death. You have no business is you have no customer to patronize you.
The number one people that matter in your business are your customers. Always start with your customers. Get to know what is important to them and attract them to your business. Find out what they are really paying you for, and how you can provide that value for them.
Making your customers come first is a mindset. Let’s call it a customer-centric mindset. This is a mindset every enterprise should possess in this age. There are many data to prove that customer-focused and customer-centric enterprises always win. When you make your customers come first, they will make your business come first.
What does value mean to them?
Your customers want to feel that you understand their definition of value and have a solution that reflects their priorities.
Businesses that survive and thrive take care of their customers. When you step into the marketplace, it is a promise to anyone who identifies with you that you are there to serve them like no other.
This promise is based on their compelling needs and wants.
Great companies don’t just know what their customers want, and how they want it, they anticipate what their customers would love and go ahead and provide it for them provide it for them. They focus on delighting their customers and keeping them happily surprised on a regular basis.
Customers care about their problems, more than they care about your solution. That means before customers can use your product, they have to fire any existing alternatives who directly or indirectly are your competition. Your solution only makes sense to them, when that solution is the answer to their problem.
Customisation trumps standardisation
There is a new kind of demands in this age of customers. The customers’ insatiable tastes and desires are mounting pressure on enterprises to meet those demands and exceed them. Your customers have new expectations. They have changed what they buy and how they buy, and prefer customization, not standardization.
First, you standardize your offering to them, and then optimize it, through customization. By showing that your product is not the perfect solution for everyone, you increase the chances that your customers and prospective customers will listen to why your product is perfect for them.
Today’s customers don’t like one cap-fits-all model, and can be jealous. They want you to demonstrate that you know them better, and understand what they want. When they perceive that you want to be everything to everyone, they tend to draw back.
We have a growing number of customers who subscribe to certain products. And every one of these “subscribers” has their unique expectations and experiences.
Without customers who patronise you or a sizeable market that you serve, you will not succeed in business not the talk of experiencing growth.
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About the writer:
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the author of BUSINESS SENSE, and ON BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR. He maintains a personal blog, where he shares proven business ideas and principles for SMEs.
