The N Word
We have all been that kid at the check out line. Emphatically stating how we need that bag of M&M’s.
You have seen people try to correct children about the difference between wants and needs. Now, you talk of needing new clothes and a flat screen TV (It would fit so nice in your living room bookshelf). Just like that kid with the death grip on the Butterfinger, you need a reminder about the difference between wants and needs.
Especially when it comes to your customer’s needs.
Make no mistake, you provide useful services. Customers just don’t need you.
Your customers can get every product or service you offer somewhere else and what you produce is not a necessity* for living. You provide services and entertainment that people enjoy and that makes their lives easier.
Therefore your only recourse to keep customers from ignoring you is to treat them with respect and help them make their days more enjoyable/pleasant/rewarding by the products and services you deliver.
You must place your biases behind you about what you think someone should want to buy, see, or hear. Your arrogance of knowing what is best can destroy a relationship with a customer, listener, or viewer. (Relatives and friends also seem to bristle at this.)
So, take the time to think, listen, and ask. Be humble and know that customers don’t need you. Your customers will thank you with the reward of future encounters with their time and money.
You need that to stay in business.
* You can argue all day about how some of our products are needed by businesses. When you get down to it they really don’t.
PS- I hope some people write comments on this that disagree. By seeing the other side of the argument we will probably learn something.
You have seen people try to correct children about the difference between wants and needs. Now, you talk of needing new clothes and a flat screen TV (It would fit so nice in your living room bookshelf). Just like that kid with the death grip on the Butterfinger, you need a reminder about the difference between wants and needs.
Especially when it comes to your customer’s needs.
Make no mistake, you provide useful services. Customers just don’t need you.
Your customers can get every product or service you offer somewhere else and what you produce is not a necessity* for living. You provide services and entertainment that people enjoy and that makes their lives easier.
Therefore your only recourse to keep customers from ignoring you is to treat them with respect and help them make their days more enjoyable/pleasant/rewarding by the products and services you deliver.
You must place your biases behind you about what you think someone should want to buy, see, or hear. Your arrogance of knowing what is best can destroy a relationship with a customer, listener, or viewer. (Relatives and friends also seem to bristle at this.)
So, take the time to think, listen, and ask. Be humble and know that customers don’t need you. Your customers will thank you with the reward of future encounters with their time and money.
You need that to stay in business.
* You can argue all day about how some of our products are needed by businesses. When you get down to it they really don’t.
PS- I hope some people write comments on this that disagree. By seeing the other side of the argument we will probably learn something.
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