Talking with Customers

Why having a conversation may be one of the most powerful tools we have.

How do you get to know someone? Like really know them?

The best way I've found is one of the easiest - you talk to them. Ask questions, listen to their answers, and stay present during the back-and-forth of the conversation.

It sounds obvious when you say it out loud.

The same is true when we think about knowing the customers of our brands or our competitors' brands.

What are less effective ways to get to know someone?
-Read a summary of their life / their bio online
-Assume they are like other people that you already know
-Talk about them with other people
-Have someone else talk to them for you and then report back

There is value in building customer personas and understanding demographics - but that's akin to reading a bio online.

There is value in lookalike modeling and extrapolating known data - but that's akin to assuming people are like other people.

There's value in discussing customers: how we think they think, what we think their worldviews are, how we think they make decisions, and what we think the factors impacting them are - but that's akin to talking about someone with others.

There's value in focus groups and IDIs - but that's akin to having someone else have the conversation and report back.

So why do we often ignore the easiest and most effective solution of simply talking to customers? A few reasons come to mind (all of which are easily overcome):

We don't know where to begin the conversation.
-Might I suggest opening questions such as "How long have you been buying that brand?" or "Would you recommend that product?"

We don't know where to find our customers.
-Might I suggest going to where your product or your competitors' products are sold and waiting for someone to take an item off the shelf or interact with a display?

We'd have to leave our desks/offices.
-Might I counter with John le Carré's quote (perhaps more resonant now than ever before): “A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.”?

So here's the challenge: Talk to your customers, your competitors' customers, or potential customers. Just have a conversation. Ask questions, listen, and stay present.

If you do this just once per week, in two years, you'd have the stories, motivations, thought processes, etc, of 100 customers first-hand. (And I'd argue that if your job is to connect with customers, once per week is a very low bar).

Thanks for spending time with me in my workshop,

Eric