Understanding of Customer Needs and Needing Customers
Unfortunately, it is common that something we love changes. Despite the seemingly popular love for a product or service, it is suddenly taken away or changed. Do you know a product or service that should be more understanding of customer needs, instead of chasing things because they believe they need more customers?
There is a lot of push in our society, and I’m a firm believer that we need more pull.
Bigger or Changed?
Here is a great example. How often do you go to the supermarket, places like Wegmans, Weis, or Kroger, only to find it is being rearranged, remodeled, or in some cases rebranded? This is mostly about profit, not about loyal customer convenience.
Interested in some more examples?
There is the website the changes its login, your account information tab, or easy reorder features or location and colors. Not because it doesn’t care about you, but because instead it wants to focus on new traffic.
Have you considered the small restaurant, the mom and pop, that had fantastic food and excellent service until it doubled its seating capacity?
Let’s not forget about the technical sensation at work who gave up the technical job to become the manager instead. Now he or she is trying to understand why the motivation is gone and the work fills meaningless.
All of these scenarios signal the same type of thinking. As people, we often chase what we feel we need. In business, many businesses chase what they believe that they need in order to become bigger, stronger, and better. Does it all work out?
The best answer is probably, “sometimes.”
Understanding of Customer Needs
Here is what is most important, getting bigger, rearranging for more margin, or changing it up to capture new customers doesn’t guarantee anything. If fact, it may create a loss of exactly what brought people in the door in the first place.
Just because change seems warranted, just because someone didn’t like something, or just because it seems like the coolest new trend doesn’t mean it will make anything better.
Remember where you came from and how, follow that lead.
– DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
