People are typically more vocal about what they don’t want than what they do want. Your business needs to be sensitive to what customers are trying to communicate when they state their preferences.
Make a Choice
Imagine you had to choose one of the following:
- Being forced to do something you hate
- Not being able to do something you love
Which would you prefer?
Odds are you’d elect to not do something you love. Sure you’d be disappointed, but at least you would avoid doing that one thing you despise.
Listening to Customers
Your customers will express their likes and dislikes to you in various ways. They speak with their actions, buying habits, or product selection. They may even tell you “I like this” or “I don’t want that.”
Are you listening?
You should listen very carefully. Why? Because people are more adamant about what they don’t want.
If you turn around and deliver something they told you they didn’t want, they are prone to be very unhappy about it.
This summer we hired a contractor to deliver a logo for us. During the process we explicitly told them that we didn’t want or like certain items. Imagine our surprise when they returned with logos that incorporated the very things we didn’t want!
When Not to Listen
There is, however, a flip side to handling customer preferences. You have to temper your customer’s desires with your expertise. Often times your customers may be saying one thing, but they don’t really know what they want. You, as the expert, will need to explain why the best solution may contradict their preferences.
The key to using your expertise is to do so before you deliver the product to the customer. You need to share your rationale and logic up-front so that the customer agrees with what the final product will or will not include.
You’ll need to tread carefully with customer’s preferences. If you mess up, they will surely dislike you and be all the more likely to share that bad experience with their friends and family.
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K Jones
February 4, 2008
While you’re right about what customers do and don’t want, whether stores and businesses will listen is another matter.
When I buy (for example) a shirt, I’ll say what I want explicitly: collar size, chest size, colours (solids only) and material (always 100% cotton or silk). And yet, even in the highest end men’s shops, I am constantly barraged by laziness and “money first” mentalities. They’ll say, “Here’s one!” and show me something that doesn’t meet all the criteria, and sometimes not a single one.
Notice the critical word: all. If I were to say, “a shirt”, that might mean anything, but when I speak explicitly in every detail, I expect them to listen and not show me anything except what matches it exactly. If they don’t have it, they should just say, “We don’t have it,” instead of trying to whore a product I will never buy. An honest “No” is far more welcome and appealing than a hard sell.
Almost no stores nowadays are concerned with giving customers what is wanted, only with moving product out the door. The reality is, they won’t move any product if they don’t have the respect to listen. And this doesn’t just apply to permanent goods like clothes, cars, and computers, it’s also true of perishables (e.g. serving “medium rare” when the customer orders well done” is unacceptable).
Joe Rawlinson
February 4, 2008
K Jones: Thanks for sharing those great examples. I agree that the store needs to listen to what the customer wants and honestly tell them if it is available. When it isn’t available, it is a great opportunity for the sales person to get to understand the customer’s needs to see if there is something else that would solve the problem. However, this step must only come after you show the customer what they first requested.