“Many small businesses don’t take the time to understand their customers’ ultimate goal. This can have a significant impact on how they are perceived.”
This quote from Dr. Sheena Sankar illustrates the importance of understanding your customer’s ultimate goal when working with them, especially as a small business owner. As you grow your company and work with more clients, it is important to keep this in mind so that you continue to provide value for your clientele. In today’s blog post we’ll discuss four steps that will help you understand what your client wants and needs from you!
Use these four steps as a guide when understanding your customer’s ultimate goal!
- Do Your Research!
- Get Feedback From Your Client!
- Check-In With Your Client Regularly!
- Plan Next Steps For Understanding Customer Needs And Ultimate Goal.
Step One: Do Your Research!
As a small business owner it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends, but understanding your customer’s needs and understanding their ultimate goal will help you make informed decisions. The following are some questions that should come into play when doing research on your client:
- What is my strategy for understanding what makes them tick?
- Who do they work with?
- Why did they choose me over one of my competitors?
- How do I anticipate this relationship going in the future and why would we want to continue working together in that scenario?
Try starting by asking these few preliminary thoughts about how you view relationships as both an individual and company, because if you don’t know what you are looking for, how will you find it?
Step Two: Get Feedback From Your Client!
It’s important to understand your customer’s ultimate goal in order to provide value and take the time to show them that they matter. Getting feedback from your client can be a great way of understanding their needs so make sure those questions come into play when asking for feedback such as
- What do I want/need?
- How am I feeling right now?
This also gives an opportunity for small business owners to ask themselves if there is anything else they could have done or said differently. This way, you’re able to assess whether or not this relationship will continue based on these insights and feedback.
Step Three: Check-In With Your Client Regularly!
It’s important to make sure that you’re understanding your customer so it is a good idea to check in regularly with them, whether this is through email or phone calls. This will give you an opportunity for feedback and also allows the small business owner time to reflect on what they want/need from their client. Just like any relationship, understanding when more contact is needed can be tough as both parties try not to come off too strong or pushy but checking in at least once per month or every three months depending on how often work has been completed-is generally sufficient enough of a balance point between being neglectful while still providing valuable input as necessary.
This can also be a great way to ask for feedback and understanding what they would like from you.
Step Four: Plan Your Next Steps!
Understanding your customer’s ultimate goal is an important step in the small business relationship but understanding how it ties into their needs is just as, if not more so. In order to plan out the next steps, it can help to make a list of goals that need to be achieved or accomplished with this client including things such as “complete work” or “check-in regularly.” This will provide some clarity on where you are currently at in terms of understanding what your customers want and don’t want from you while providing insight into future potential projects, which should allow all parties involved (both company/small business owner and the client) to feel understanding their needs.
