Your customers want the same things we all want; After the basic need to be fed, warm, and safe from the weather, we all want:
To be well liked.
To be thought of as clever.
To be thought of as attractive.
To be thought of as special.
To be accepted by our group ( friends, church, hobby, occupation...any group we hold important)
To feel like we got a special deal from the local merchant.
Our family to love us.
See how universal these things are?
Notice they were all about the customer (or more specifically, the person wanting these things). None of these "wants" are about things. We all have inner needs, and these needs are pretty universal.
Did you notice that the above list of customer wants doesn't include buying anything? The reason customers buy is because they have the belief that owning what you sell will help bring them closer to satisfying one or more of their desires.
Also notice that none of the things we want are truly altruistic? Helping other people may help us satisfy one of our desires, but the desires themself are entirely selfish.
Wanting things for other people usually is way down on the list of things we want & think about. Our customers are the same way. It isn't that we are evil, it's that we do things for other people either out of obligation or because it makes us feel better about ourselves in some way.
How does this help us as small business owners?
We can treat customers better. We can, by our actions, make them feel better about buying from us. We can laugh at their jokes a little more often. We can listen to their stories without rolling our eyes in boredom. We can treat them like new friends. We can treat them like we want to be treated ourselves.
The great Zig Ziglar said that you can get anything you want if you help enough people get what they want. There is power in that thought.
Can you make your customer feel a little more important than they felt when they first came in your store? Of course you can. Can you make hem feel more clever? Sure, just credit them with a good idea or a good question when they ask a question. Any small business owner can do that.
Can you give them a feeling that they got a special deal, just for them? Of course. It doesn't have to be something big. Almost any little extra will do. Any little extra effort will do. Small businesses become bigger businesses by giving just a little extra. Nothing creates BUZZ like treating you customers like real friends. And the core of that idea is giving a little more than they paid for.
Do you remember the last store, restaurant, or business you visited that made you feel pretty good about going there? Think hard. Treat your customers like that.
Appeal to a customer's self centered needs first, and your needs will always be taken care of. It's one of the few ways to get rich. Give more than you take.
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