Some time ago Seth Godin wrote an interesting post about what people want. I always kept it in my hot list of “stuff to review and make sure I do something with it”. Recently it made his way in a refocussing project of a customer. In the process I worked with them to convert these ideas into actionable statements that could relate to their business. First things first, so here is the original post:
What people want
The same thing everyone else is having, but different.
A menu where the prices aren’t all the same.
More attention than the person sitting next to them.
A slightly lower price than anyone else.
A new model, just moments before anyone else, but only if everyone else is really going to like it.
A seat at a sold out movie.
Access to the best customer service person in the shop, preferably the owner.
Being treated better, but not too much better.
Being noticed, but not too noticed.
Being right.
Now it would be too long and not appropriate to write here our final output, plus it won’t apply as it is to another business. What is useful is the questions you can use to do the same for your business. Assuming Seth is right, and I believe he is, and your customer base is made of people (regardless if they buy for themselves or their organisation) how can you make sure to “respond” to what they want to be successful?
For sake of simplicity I am addressing an hypothetical B2B solution offering (B2C or a product shouldn’t make a lot of difference).
The same thing everyone else is having, but different.
How can you customise your solution? Even better how can you allow your customers to tailor your solution so that they feel it more fitting who they are?
A menu where the prices aren’t all the same.
Can you offer a wider range of pricing? Can you drag in prospects who are not ready to pay the full price? Are you squandering opportunities of charging a premium price for a premium service?
More attention than the person sitting next to them.
This sounds tricky, because it seems to imply to focus on some customers more than others, but it’s not. Attention, like care, is also a matter of perception. If you know your customers you can give each one of them what they perceive as attention and make all, or the majority of them, feel like they are receiving more care than average.
A slightly lower price than anyone else.
The key point is lower than anyone else, and for the perceived value, not “the lowest price”.
A new model, just moments before anyone else, but only if everyone else is really going to like it.
This was the most challenging one for us. We ended up working on the emotional content of the solution and stress the early adopters.
A seat at a sold out movie.
This was probably the least challenging, because scarcity, managed scarcity, is good.
Access to the best customer service person in the shop, preferably the owner.
This can be about communication training for customer service and make sure that the customer can easily access the right competences when needed.
Being treated better, but not too much better.
My take is that is quite difficult to fall in the “too much better” category. My tantra in the last 20 years is to make customer feel like they are travelling first class, even when this is not possible. You may serve water, with the same passion and care like champagne. It won’t become sparkling wine, or taste like that, but there’s no reason for a lousy customer experience.
Being noticed, but not too noticed.
Follow up calls are great for sales, and can make the customer happy. Even a call following up some customer news, maybe picked from social media. Just don’t overdo, or you can achieve the opposite outcome.
Being right.
I suppose there is more than one meaning of this. In our case we looked at how the solution make the customer feel in ethical terms. For you it could have a totally different meaning.
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