We spend a fair amount of time here in the Home Business blog trying to guess what our customers and clients are up to. We try to anticipate what they might be looking for and figure out how to expand and attract our target market. No matter how much speculating we do, it still cannot take the place of actually hearing from our customers and clients what they want. But, how can you not only get your customers to talk to you, but also get them to tell you what is really on their minds?
I still think it comes down to a couple of things—first, we have to build and cultivate relationships with our clients and customers, and secondly, we have to come up with easy, efficient and accessible ways for them to communicate with us.
If customers and/or clients feel a connection with us, and believe that we really are on their side and that we want to solve their problems and make their lives better instead of just making a sale—they will be more likely to tell us what they really want. It can take time to cultivate these relationships and we have dozens of little opportunities to make the connection stronger. Likewise, we have to make it easy for them to talk to us—not difficult. If someone calls a couple times and doesn’t get through to a live body, they might get discouraged and assume we cannot be contacted. An accessible web site, e-mail, easy telephone service and well-known business hours all make it easier for individuals to get in touch with us and tell us what they really think.
How we respond will be important too: open, inviting, warm, non-defensive communication, as well as good follow-through will let people know that we are open to their suggestions and we WANT them to talk to us and tell us what we can do to better serve their needs.
Also: What Are Your Customers’ Expectations?