What Businesses Don't Know About Their Customers

June 12, 2009

Interview with Robert Gordman, author of The Must-Have Customer: 7 Steps to Winning the Customer You Haven't Got

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Mike Carruthers:
This may sound odd but not every business knows what business it's in.

Robert Gordman:
What we've seen even with CEO's and people that are very bright - they believe that there is one thing that makes their company successful. And yet when you go out and do research you find out that the customer tells you something different than that.

Robert Gordman

Robert Gordman, author of the book The Must-Have Customer: 7 Steps to Winning the Customer You Haven't Got …

And that's really what the critical issue is - that it's what the customer believes, not what you believe.

As an example Robert describes a client of his who is an off-priced retailer…

He believed that they were doing business with department store customers because they carried closeouts of department store brands. And when we went out and did the research we found that actually his customers were discount store customers (Target and Wal-Mart customers) who were buying from him because of the prices at which he sold the merchandise, rather than capturing department store customers because he carried the same brands.

It doesn't always take sophisticated research to discover this, says Robert, just communicating with your customers can help you better understand who they are and who you are.

It's the customer that makes the rules and the customer that understands where you are. And you need to make sure that you're getting their input and not simply using your own beliefs.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.