GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Why do customers use your company?

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

How often do you ask yourself that question? How often to you ask you customers that question? Think about that as a different approach to your messaging and your advertising strategy. The true purpose of any business is to find a need and fill it. No less but often a lot more.

Yes, they hire you because they have a need for what you offer.

People need to be fed; they need a restaurant.

People need to be fed pizza; they need a pizza parlor.

People need to have their house remodeled; they need a contractor.

People need a new bathroom; they need a plumber.

And… well, you get the picture.

Now the next step is to dig a little deeper. This mean finding out things like.

What do people consider a great restaurant? Or another way to look at it, what do people hate about restaurants?

What kind of pizza do they prefer? Or another way to look at it, what do people dislike about pizza parlors?

You see where this is going right? You will not have a business without customers. And you will not have a successful business with happy, contented and most importantly repeating and returning customers. And the best way to do this is to find out what they like and give it to them.

In the end it is all about not only giving customers what they need and want but it is also figuring out how to give them more. It is about something called the customer experience.

Customer service is one thing. Customer service is giving the customer what they asked for. It is about making sure that they are getting what they want when they want it. It means taking care of a customer when they come into your store. It is about mowing their lawn or plowing their driveway the way they asked you to do it. It is about giving them what they expect, what they pay for. That is customer service and that is a certainly a good thing.

Customer experience is taking it to another level. It is much more than giving the customers what they want it is delighting them as well.

It is the extra handful of fries that Five Guys throws into your bag of fries.

It is the car repair service department that also washes your car before they return it to you.

It is that special sample of new top shelf Tequila that your local Mexican restaurant asks you to try out.

It is that beautiful poinsettia that your landscape company leaves at your door at Christmas.

It as all of these special things that lead to great customer experience that goes beyond merely satisfying your customers but keeps them coming back for years and years and that is the very best way to grow your business.