News Flash: Customers Don’t CARE What You Want

Earlier today I had one of ‘those’ moments with a prospective client. You’ll see which one shortly.

I was on the phone with him discussing a new client relationship. He wants to improve his site’s SEO. Sure, no problem. I start asking the usual questions – what kind of content does he want, who’s the audience…

Then I hear this. “Audience? Huh? We just want whatever it takes to get to the top of Google.”

Uhm…

Thinking to myself, ‘Didn’t we dislodge this attitude from the business world in 2002?’ I asked the prospect to clarify. To what kind of customers do you sell? What motivates them to buy?

Dead silence.

Then, he says something that makes my teeth hurt. “I know what the customers want. This is how we’ll do it.”

Er…hold on a second, Mr. Genius. You’ve admitted to me that sales stink. The phones aren’t ringing. Nobody’s updated your website or sent an email in months. You’re after immediate action and (wait for it) – immediate results.

And on top of all this…you already know what customers want?

No. You don’t know what your customers want. You know what YOU want – money, success, days off, etc. Your customers want entirely different things – products that work, services that do such-and-such job, relief from the headache of dealing with Problem X.

They want this relief to come from you. And they don’t CARE what YOU want.

I believe this is the biggest problem with marketing today. B2B, B2C, doesn’t matter. Too many companies fail to consider their customers’ desires. They just superimpose their own.

It’s tough to crawl out of your head and into someone else’s. Very tough to try on a customer’s mindset and figure out what they want, and how to speak to them about it. Believe me, I know. That’s why there are marketing experts (like me) to do it FOR you.

But no. It’s easy (and cheap) to just assume you know what customers want. And then act from there. And then wonder why your marketing doesn’t convert.

It’s entirely possible to get what you want as a business owner/VP/startup guy-of-all-trades. People do every day. But in order to do that you must give customers what they’re after. It takes imagination, effort and patience to link the two up.

Sometimes I’m able to demonstrate how the two link up, and get myself a new client (yay!). Sometimes I’m not (like today).

Here, some free advice. We have dozens of channels to communicate with all types of audiences nowadays (email, social media, phones, old-fashioned networking, etc.). Want to find out what your customers want? ASK THEM.

Now, how many of you were nodding your head at what I’ve said? Please, sound off in the comments. Let’s have a minute of shared frustration before we get back to work.