Many people go into their own business to escape the control of “the MAN” telling them what to do. They also go into business because the world we live in naturally works based on a monetary system. Gotta have moolah to live. The problem is that business owners often confuse the purpose of being in business to EARN money with the function of business, which is to get and keep happy customers who will speak positively about your business in the community, which yields referrals. The consumer experience begins the very minute you meet someone, whether it be they are seeking your services now or whether you’re just meeting them in a networking circle and do not have a need for them right now.
It is our responsibility to communicate our business processes up front to the consumer, so they are not confused about what we do, how we do it, how long it takes or how we get paid for it. It is the customers responsibility to communicate their needs, their time frame and whether or not they will pay for it. Those are the fundamentals of commerce. However, how a consumer comes to understand us and our business is based solely on every moment of CONVERSATION and INTERACTION. And it’s almost certain that how the individual CONSUMER experiences us will be incredibly different than how we BELIEVE they perceive us or how we THINK they should receive our messaging. The truth is how someone understand us is completely out of our control.
While any quality business, regardless of it’s status of survival, security or significance, needs to have standard operating procedure in order to adequately satisfy today’s highly emotional consumer, we must also recognize that each customer is unique. They have unique accountabilities, responsibilities, time constraints and life stressors that we rarely can know. While customers provide monetary value, their human value is far more important. The only way to discover that value is by LISTENING. As a sales person and business owner, if you still think that your voice should carry on the longest in a conversation with a customer, you may make money, but you will always be hunting NEW customers.
