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June
20, 2006
What Businesses Don't Know About Their Customers II
Interview
with Robert Gordman, author of The
Must Have Customer
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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 with even 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,
author of the book The
Must Have Customer…
And that's really
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.
Who believed
that they were doing business with department store customers
because they carried close-outs of department store brands.
And when we went out and did the research we found out that
actually his customers were discount store customers - Target
and Walmart customers - that were buying from him because of
the prices that he sold merchandise at, 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.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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