Do Your Customers Take You Seriously?
Nov 5th, 2009 by David Svet
It seems like a silly question — do your customers take you seriously? But it’s one you may want to ask yourself. What would you gain if you were taken more seriously than now? Would it impact your bottom line? Your career? Your general happiness?
If you are out selling or are busy marketing your company’s products and services you may want to start by looking at how you communicate. Over the last ten years business communications have become decidedly electronic. A consequence of that is that they have become ephemeral — they have less value. It takes no effort to delete a file. In an age of Powerpoint decks and email we’ve lost the gravitas that was made possible through print. I’m not a curmudgeon. I’m not longing for days gone by. But, I am suggesting that it may be a great benefit if you spent some time inventorying the media that you use to put communications in the hands of your market and choosing to use some alternate methods. What would demonstrate that you are more thoughtful? What would show that you sincerely care? Is there a way to deliver something that gives it greater value?
Seth Godin recently sold a limited edition boxed set of his books — at a rate of 3 per minute until they were gone. Granted that’s Seth Godin, but they were the same books you could buy at Amazon, Borders, or Barnes & Noble. However, these books came in a set with a wooden case and there were only 800 sets made. He created a lot of demand, a lot of value, and huge awareness by buying 800 little wooden boxes.
Before you email your next white paper or Powerpoint deck, ask yourself what would happen if your customers took you more seriously? Is there a little wooden box of some sort that would help your ideas be a little more permanent? Perhaps simply printing the piece with real ink on paper would work? Seriously.
Illustration: Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add. MS 42130) is an illuminated manuscript written and illustrated circa 1325 – 1335, by anonymous scribes and artists. It was commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (died 1345), a wealthy English landowner who lived at Irnham, Lincolnshire.
Cliche to flip this question…but it seems like an important issue is “Do you take your customers seriously?” People respect when their needs are being listened to and addressed. So many times we dilute the message to reach the masses, which can end up making companies seem unaware or clueless.
A start to good communication starts with understanding your customer needs. Only then, when they recognize that you understand them, will they take you seriously.
Love the art!
Great point, Ben! That’s one of the biggest reasons that we got in to 1:1 marketing — everyone wants to know that you are listening and paying attention to their needs. 1:1 technologies are the best way that I know of to keep track of each customer to a satisfactory level of detail.
You made some nice points there. I looked on the internet for the topic and found most people will go along with with your blog.