Knowing Your Customers

How do you get to know your customers? How do you find out what they want? The simple answer: talk with them. The sophisticated answer: talk with them.

Part of the secret lies in practicing a variation of the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as they want you to do unto them." That is, communicate with your customers and prospects in the medium they wish to receive and they’ll respond. Ask the right questions -- frequently -- and they will tell you what you need to know. The other part of the secret is leveraging the information you obtain.

Medium

Although technology’s siren song may be wonderfully alluring, your customers live in a multimedia, time-pressed, yet human and emotional world. You need to use multiple media to reach your customers and provide multiple options for their return response -- and engaging them in a continuing dialog with you in the WAY they want and WHEN they want. Put out your message via e-mail, telephone, regular mail, fax or website, and allow your customers to respond in any way they choose ... not necessarily with the same medium you used to reach them. For example, you may pose a question on your website, but many "engaged" customers want to pick up the phone and call an 800 number.

The Right Questions

After 27 years of asking questions in the industrial marketplace, I’ve discovered ONE question that elicits more good customer feedback than any other.

"If there were one thing about our product or service or whatever) you could change, what would that be?"

Far more powerful than "how can we improve" or "what would you like to see in the next upgrade," this simple open-ended question lets you know (a) where the dis-satisfiers are in your offering; (b) what will keep this particular customer coming back for more; (c) what threats your competitors could pose should they offer this "change."

Frequency

Everyone talks about the rapid change the Internet is undergoing. The Internet is also causing your customers to change along with it. Expectations rise with each new announced improvement. Thus the research you conducted last week may no longer be valid, and your customer may have moved beyond what she told you a few weeks ago. What to do?

Leverage

You don’t need an expensive knowledge management system, or even a fancy customized database. What you DO need is a process for: (1) identifying your best customers -- those 20% who provide you 80% of your profitability; and (2) make sure you contact those best customers whenever an important event happens in your industry -- or at least once a quarter -- and immediately update their feedback in a centralized location, even if it’s no more than a contact management program such as ACT! posted on your secure Intranet.

Joanne Gucwa is president of Technology Management Associates, Inc., of Chicago. www.techmanage.com that provides business information and technology tracking services. She may be reached at jogucwa@techmanage.com or (312) 984-5050