Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops

Know your customer: Who’s asking them questions?

By

Answering customer questions is a great start, but there’s another level to the conversation. Photo by Becky McCray.

 

You know I’m a big fan of answering customer questions. That’s been part of my marketing advice for 10 years now.

But there’s a deeper layer to serving your customers. It’s not just about the questions they would ask you. It’s about the questions that people ask your customers.

Help your customers answer
the questions that other people ask them.

This does involve thinking like your customer, maybe even talking to customers to learn more. When customers make any kind of purchase from you, what kind of questions might people ask them? And how can you help them answer?

A friend of mine is in the hunting business. One of the most common questions that people ask his customers is, “What happens to the meat?” So he wrote an email explaining how careful they are with the meat to be sure every scrap is usable and used. It’s the kind of story customers can hang onto.

If you’re a tax accountant, what questions might people ask your customers? Let’s brainstorm a few:

  • How did you pick your accountant?
  • What does an accountant even do for you?
  • How do you afford an accountant?

Where should you publish these answers?

A customer email newsletter is the perfect tool for this. It’s personal. Customers can save your smart answers to refer back to, and they can forward them to others.

Another great place to post them is on your blog or website. Your potential customers might be searching for answers right now.

Want to see more examples? Just ask in the comments, and we’ll work on ideas together.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. Thank you for this article. So many marketers proclaim that you have to know your customer but lack concrete examples of exactly how to do that. You’ve done a great job with this example.

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

%d bloggers like this: