To really flourish in today’s competitive markets, it’s vital to really understand your customer, what their needs AND wants are. How can you tailor your service or product without it?
A brilliant jumping off point could be to simply ask your customers this question, after all its them who will determine the longevity of your business and provide the ‘word of mouth’ element which is vital to many small businesses. HubSpot produced a brilliant article on ‘Customer Needs and How to Solve Them’ which also comes with some free template downloads to help you on your way.
With the fast pace of commerce today, there are a few small things that can make a big difference and looking to technology can be a big help, the humble spreadsheet for example may be a wondrous thing but it’s hey days are over and now with the likes of accounting software like Xero, Quickbooks and Sage online and all the apps that can really power them up, invoices can be sent and payments can be made at the click of a button over a morning coffee. It’s time to get on board, do that research and update your skills to meet the next generation of customers.
To make a real difference you have to get creative and look to the future and this is where ‘Creative Problem Solving’ can come into it. A seemingly wacky idea to start but it can yield some really inspirational ideas – MindTools have some brilliant advice on how to use this method here.
What do you do to understand your customers? Share your tips with us on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
