Business Owners - Get Inside the Head of Your Customer!

By Mark Bergman


The biggest mystery that all business owners face is how to get inside the head of your customer. How do you get to understand what your customer is thinking? What would they like to see? What would they want right now? What can you do for them? How are you as a small business doing with regards to your customers?

With all the amazing advances in advertising, surveying, technology and other modern day advances in business thought, the answer is really a simple one.

Put yourself in your customers shoes. What would you want if you were one of your own customers? What would you be looking for if you were one of your own customers? Most importantly what solutions would you be looking for? What problems would you be having that require a solution?

Every business always be looking at the world through the customer's viewpoint. If you are able to provide solutions, you will be way ahead of your competitors who may be just selling products, rather than being a problem solver for their customers.

So how does a business owner become a solution provider? Make a list of questions and answers by asking yourself simple questions using some of the terms in the list below as a starting point:

1. Why
2. When
3. How
4. Who
5. What
6. How to
7. Find
8. Fix
9. Cure
10. Treat
11. Stop
12. Help
13. Quick

For example -
Why do my customers come to me to purchase product X?
When do they come?
What times of the year are more important to my customers when thinking of making a purchase?
How can we solve this issue for my customers?
Can we stop this?
How can we help with this?

The number of questions and answers could be almost endless, but the idea is to think in terms of being in your customer's shoes when you create this framework list. Be as honest and objective as you possibly can. Pretty soon, you will start to form a picture of what makes your customer "tick" and of your business itself.

The point of the exercise is twofold. Firstly it is to try to get a better understanding of your customer's needs. Secondly it is almost a form of self examination of your business. This self examination may bring to light problems and issues within your business, that you were not aware of. It also may make you aware of opportunities that you may have been missing.

Whatever the results, this can be a very useful exercise in helping you, the business owner to stand back from the day to day running of your small business and think in a more strategic manner.

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Mark Bergman has 25 years in business experience, covering areas of consulting in strategic planning and software and general business consulting. He also has started up a number of small businesses which he successfully ran and sold off. He has formal qualifications in both business and computer science.

Business Owners - Get Inside the Head of Your Customer!