What’s the pain?

It’s in my knee right around…no, not that kind of pain. What’s your customers’ pain?

One way you can get the upper hand on your competition is to really consider the way your customers do business. What are their issues? How do their buying processes match up with your selling processes? How do the quantities of product they need in an order match with the quantities that you sell in a unit?  Maybe you should ask.

These economic times require you and your team to be better than you were in the past. Most industries are slow or slower than four or five years ago. If you don’t have the kind of business you’d like, maybe you aren’t asking the right kinds of questions.

Have you considered having a conversation with your customers? I know, that’s pretty radical, but if might just work. Sit down with them in their office and ask what you can do to make doing business with your company easier. Is there anything about our ordering and delivery processes that cause you problems? Is there anything we can do better?

You may find that a simple and easy tweak to your process will provide a huge benefit to your customer. Maybe you pack 15 units to a case and your customer uses them in quantities of 8. Can you change your box size to accommodate one more unit so that your customer can get a better utility out of your ordering system? Perhaps it’s something in the way your paperwork doesn’t give them a piece of information that would make their life easier. The point is, you won’t know unless you ask.

We’re talking about making changes to your system to make life better for your customer. Maybe your willingness to consider a small change to your system is just the kind of loyalty that makes them a customer for life. Maybe your system tweak makes them love you enough so that your price is no longer a major factor in the buying decision. Maybe they would be willing to accept an x% higher price if you could make this simple change.

You will not be able to accommodate every whim and desire of your customers. But you never know what little thing about the way you do business that really irks them unless you ask. In these difficult economic times, your company has to be better than their other alternatives. Being assertive and positive in wanting to make the relationship better is a great way to make your customer relationships better.