One Sherpa

Have you noticed that there has been a major change in your own behaviour in the last decade?

Where was the first place you went to look if you needed something done around your house from a tradesperson ten years ago?

You ‘let your fingers do the walking’ didn’t you? The famous Yellow pages advertisement encouraged everyone to stop doing their research by walking around every where and save the time by looking up the Yellow Pages.

I believe this was the start of consumers researching more from information than doing it in person as had been the case in the past.

But let me ask you this: Who goes to the Yellow Pages as their first port of call now when thinking about research?

Most people just ‘Google It.’

Although they still ‘let their fingers do the walking’ consumers are looking for information and doing research much earlier in their buying process. One of the reasons is that done correctly it is much easier. So potential customers are likely to be truly researching and are not ready to respond to an advertisement or offer to buy.

This trend means that small business owners must get their heads around connecting with potential customers over a longer period of time. It is essential that you have the research information available in a digital format that you would have delivered personally in the past.

You must get used to the fact that when you meet a potential customer they know more about you than you know about them. They are likely to have done their research on you and know significantly more than you realise. They may even know more about your industry than you do simply by having more time than you to spend on the research.

What is your story on research? How are you doing it today?

I would be very interested in your opinion on this topic.

I don’t know about you but isn’t it frustrating when every single customer seems to want something just a little different and you can’t get any real pay back on work previously done for other customers.

So what do you do?

Well, my biggest problem is in saying NO because I think it can sometimes be the difference between getting a sale and not getting a sale.

Or so it seems to me at the time!

You know what I’ve found… Often the customer is only seeking to clarify what is and isn’t included. Sometimes if I try less to accommodate them and tell them exactly what we can and can’t do for them it gets easier because instead of me compromising, the customer makes a compromise.

Often when I’ve been worried about losing a customer, I find that by being honest and straight forward about what we can and can’t do, the customer automatically works out if we’re going to be able to help or not.

And you know what?

In the end it makes it a whole lot easier for me!

So what are your experiences in this?