Marketplace New Year Resolutions Part I
Of the thousands of words in the English language, there are a few that are particularly powerful. Not because of how they sound, but because of what they stand for. Powerful in their ability to allow a speaker or writer to take the minds of the audience to a conceptual level that precludes pedestrian thinking. Powerful words instantaneously lift the discourse into a higher orbit.You might be surprised at some of the words I consider powerful: community, country, planet, and universe. When you use these words, it's impossible to dwell on the individual or the insignificant. All of them stand for concepts that we can neither see nor grasp.
Another of my favorite powerful words is marketplace. I consider the marketplace to be as close to a living, breathing being as any non-sentient entity could be. When you say or write marketplace, you evoke a sense of energy, productivity, and cooperation.
But as powerfully positive as this description may sound, the marketplace is also cruelly indifferent to our success or failure. It is important to understand that the marketplace is agnostic in its incapacity to know or care about those who participate in it, which is actually the beautiful part of the marketplace: It is at once a place of opportunity and failure, and whichever you find depends more on you than anything or anyone else.
Below are a few resolutions to think about which can help you make your way successfully in the marketplace. This is certainly not a complete list of things you need to do, but may be things you haven't focused on lately.
Marketplace Resolution One: I resolve to make sure I know why my customers are coming in my door.
People don't just wander around in a fog. And as the value of our time becomes more precious, we live our lives with more intention. If you agree with me, then you will agree that when people step through your front door, or call your business, or visit your website, they have a purpose in mind. And this purpose is 100% about them, not about you.
Their purpose for seeking you out might be convenience, or technical assistance, or level of service. It might be for some unique product you offer. Regardless, your success depends upon the ability to perpetuate the attraction. And if you don't know what that attraction is, your business is wandering around in a fog.
So how do you cut through the fog? Ask. Ask your customers why they came. Don't worry - they won't mind. And you don't have to ask a direct question, like, "Why did you come in?" You can ask, "How did you find out about us?", or "Did you see our ad in the paper?", or any number of oblique probes that will get them talking to you, and in the process, they will tell you about their purpose. Armed with that information, you can not only address that purpose, but be better prepared to successfully perpetuate your response.
Marketplace Resolution Two: I resolve to make sure my company focuses on customer benefits rather than my product features.
As I just said, the customer relationship with your business is totally one-sided. It's all about them. This rude truth is not the least bit intuitive, but the sooner you accept it, the sooner you will find people lined up to come in the door of your business.
The reason this truth is not intuitive is because of the process of developing the products and services you offer. In that process, you are the customer who is creating or buying things that benefit your business. But the things that are benefits to you turn into mere features when offered to your customers. Success is waiting on you to make the conversion from focusing on why you are excited about your stuff, to why and how your stuff might make your customers excited.
One hundred percent of your success is dependent upon the ability to convert the features you love into benefits your customers love.
Marketplace Resolution Three: I resolve to develop a better understanding of the profiles of my customers, and the demographic dynamics of my industry and market.
Who are these people, and what is going on in their lives? That's the question you should be asking about your customers. There are things happening - births and deaths, weddings and divorces, hiring and firing, and especially birthdays - that make customers behave a certain way one year, and then change that behavior the next. If you aren't paying attention, your first indication that this change has happened will be the deafening silence you hear in your business as customers stay away in droves.
There are also things happening in your industry and your marketplace: new products, new technology, new roads, new competitors, etc. And even though these aren't demographic things, they influence what people are doing and why they are doing it, which becomes demographic behavior.
Since your customers are the most important part of your business, shouldn't you know as much as you can about who they are, how many there are, where they are coming from, and where they are going? Remember, it's your industry and your marketplace: You're supposed to be the expert in these areas. Act like one.
Marketplace Resolution Four: I resolve to make sure I know all I can about the threats and opportunities of my largest customers.
Every business, large or small, is influenced by the challenges of its customers. And when your big customers have challenges, the bad news usually rolls downhill on top of you. As if you don't have enough problems of your own, right?
The classic 80-20 rule - 80% of sales come from 20% of customers - is particularly dangerous for a small business, because YOUR 20% represents a small number of customers. Consequently, a threat to even one of your best customers can become dangerous for you. And while you may not be able to prevent threats from happening to your customers, if you pay attention to what's happening in their industry, you won't be blind-sided by a drop in sales, or worse, a drop in payment.
You should be reading what your best customers are reading: industry news and information. Another way to find out what's going on is ask. Ask them how their business is going. Ask them about their industry and its position in the global marketplace. Don't worry - like your customers, they won't mind.
Ask and listen. Read and learn. It's part of your job description to know what's going on in the life of this "20%" customer that your organization depends on so much.
Write this on a rock... The marketplace is alive, growing, evolving, and moving. The question you have to ask and answer is: how well is your business growing, evolving and moving in concert with the marketplace? It's a dance. And if you can't master this dance, more than your toes will be in jeopardy.
