Customers who buy handmade soap don’t just want to get clean. What do they want to be good at?
A few weeks ago, we talked about knowing your customers in order to help them answer questions they get asked. This week, get to know your customers better by thinking through what they want to be good at.
What do your customers want to be good at?
You help customers all the time. The question today is what are you helping them be good at? If you help someone be better at something important to them, they’re more likely to want to work with you.
Let’s look at 3 examples of local businesses and how they help people be better at something.
- If you run a tire store, you may be helping people be better drivers or be good at keeping their family safe on the road.
- If you are an accountant, you might be helping people be better at their small business or become good at their finances.
- If you craft handmade soaps, maybe your customers want to be good at reducing waste to protect the environment.
Think about your own business. What do your customers want to be better at? What things do you help them do well? Take a moment to jot some notes.
Share information they need to be better
Of course your product, service or business helps customers, but you can go another step by creating content or information that helps them.
- Answer customer questions
- Make recommendations based your own expertise
- Share examples from other customers with permission or by making them anonymous
Share this info in words, photos, illustrations or video. Use live video, create your own blog, post on social media. Use whatever channels help you reach your customers. This is content marketing.
The goal of sharing is more than just making customers better. It’s also about convincing them to work with you in particular. Entrepreneur Brian Clark said it this way:
“It becomes your job to show up early with valuable content that convinces the prospect that they’re more empowered with your guidance than they would be otherwise.”
Brian also suggested these questions to help you figure out how you are empowering customers to get better at something:
- Once a person becomes a customer or client, they are empowered to ______________.
- Their experience with us makes them feel ______________.
- When speaking of their experience with others, they say ______________.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- About the Author
- Latest by this Author
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.
My husband and I own a winery in Knoxville, IA and…
We want our customers to be empowered to break through stereotypes about wine and enjoy the nuances through the tasting experience.
Their experience with us will make them feel a closer connection with locally-produced products through the story it tells.
When speaking of their experience with others they’ll say they learned something new, made connections to people, the rural experience and fine wine. We want them to say it was amazing!
Love these answers, Joann! You definitely have a great line on what your customers want to be good at.