Competitive edge used to be because you had better machines that worked faster, then it was because you had more money to spend on advertising but now the global, competitive marketplace is very different.
This is the third blog in which we have chatted about creating a following. In this short blog we share our thoughts about getting going to attract your customers to you.
You can no longer push your products out there with the promise of free gifts, clever ads or the more romantic/ aspirational gestures. Customers are too savvy now. Just as the premise of the marketplace for great employees has been blown away by new entrants with a promise of ownership, excitement and responsibility, so has your customer marketplace. You once spoke to your customer one customer at a time, in one home at a time, now you speak to millions all over the world at the press of a button. No longer are people happy with you controlling the agenda, they want to discuss the things that are important to them, with people who they respect, at a time and pace that is right for them. So pushing your products and services to the many waiting hoards is no longer an option but how do you pull them towards you? How do you start a meaningful dialogue with the people you need to buy from you?
They need to be courted, just like you before you started dating! You don’t just pitch up at a random house and knock on someone’s door asking for a date, do you? You go to the places that people who you think you’d like hang out. You start chatting to people, asking questions, showing you’re interested. You want to be guaranteed of a yes before you pop the question!
So as an organisation who is courting customers and great staff ask yourself:
1. Where should you hang out to start building that relationship?
2. What things do you need to be interested in to help galvanise their interest in you?
3. What questions can you ask to start the dialogue?
4. What do you need to offer your ‘following’ to keep them interested?
Love to know what you think.
Caroline
Good thoughts Caroline
I love how the web and social networking has changed the balance the way small dynamic organisations can compete with slower, larger competitors.
Even the phrase ‘competitors’ is a bit of a throwback to the old econmony. We’re finding that co-operation between people that had previously seen themselves as competitors drives the whole sector forward.
The customer decides who is the best fit for them.