To better serve customers, what do companies absolutely need to understand about their customers?

There are three things that must be understood.

1-- You can and should tell your customer what they need and why they need it. There would be no i-(insert product here) if Apple had not informed everyone on earth that i-products were not only cool, but would make their users the coolest human beings alive.

2-- Your customers truly are a lot like you are. The Golden Rule applies, as does good old fashioned common sense. And hypocrisy will always bite you in the ass eventually.

3-- Customers almost never know what they really want. Remember when Homer Simpson had a chance to make his dream car? (http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Homer) They have a big picture idea, but it is up to you to innovate it into a marketable product line.

Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldoncolme@gmail.com

Where to begin . . .

Understand the culture, the management style, the values, and the motivations, for openers.

Research their history. Their origins, up and down cycles. Past supplier or service provider relationships (and successes and failures in them). Major events. Business interruption. Legal problems. Wahtever.

Then, develop deep inights into their markets and customers. You can add immeasurable value to them with programs and products that are focused on what's happening with their market in general, and with specific key customers.

Companies need to go deeper with their best customers and swim upstream further than they normally do to find problems, challenges or obstacles that surround the products or services they are selling to them. This is not necessarily about the product or service they are providing the customer but things that are inhibiting the customer in some way.

With this knowledge, the company can mine their hidden assets - expertise, know-how, privileged access, etc. - propose new solutions to the customer and there by find new ways to grow profitably. Adrian Slywotzky calls this process "Demand Innovation". It's one way to grow in the difficult times most companies are experiencing.

Their culture and background. Their different needs at a particular point in time. The seasons changes for everyone either professionally or personally, while we put ourselves in similar shoes and understand such changes, we are to provide a variety of all we have to offer and options for obtaining them that is tailored or customize to various seasons in their lives.

In today's volatile economic times business enterprise are looking to run faster, better and cheaper. This equates to delivering their product or service quicker, without defects and at less cost. The only way to achieve this is to truly understand what the customer wants, when they want it and at what price they are willing to pay for it. From this perspective the organization must truly become a partner of their clientele. You must reach a point where you feel like you are part of the client.

The big mistake we all make is trying to understand what our prospects need. A focus on what they want produces far better retention.

As a company, we need to understand that customer service transcends beyond answering questions and solving problems.

In the age of technology and social media, customer service is the new marketing. People will talk about how they are treated and share this experience to others – freely. This should put a fire on our belly and be on the leading edge. What kind of customer service should we give our customers? Is it awesome or is it awful? There are many methods out there, but one thing is for sure: We should delight our customers in every way we can.

Call Center for Small Business – http://www.magellan-solutions.com