We recently carried out some Customer Insight Research for a client to find out why they were not selling more of a particular product that the market had already said was important to them. We had previously established that the product was one of the best on the market, the price was about right and it had a good reputation. Similar products were available from other suppliers so it was a competitive market place but our client was well known for supplying them. However they weren’t hitting the targets that had been set so we went about talking to the market to find out what the issue was. We found out some extraordinary feedback … the company was boring. All they could do was to talk about themselves and their products. They didn’t have a personality, they didn’t talk about the market that their clients were in and they didn’t engage their customers with stimulating content in their marketing or even in person!
In a world where we research our suppliers and buy through referrals from trusted sources it’s important to be able to understand your market’s needs and their customer’s problems. It’s not about you; it’s about them and their customers. You need to make them a hero in their customer’s eyes and you need to have something interesting and helpful to say.
At Hoot Marketing we carry out a lot of Customer Insight Research for our clients and it always throws out some really interesting and helpful information about their customers and what they would like more of from that business.
Research is powerful but it’s not easy to manage it in house as customers don’t often like to tell their supplier what they really think for fear of offending them, being sold to or having prices go up!
Having an independent organisation hold conversations with your clients will bring up all sorts of opportunities and new ideas that can help you improve the way you do things, improve your marketing and messaging and potentially even make you more money.
Not only is it helpful for you to find out more, your clients feel complimented to be asked their opinion and involved in the development of your business.
If you’d like to find out what your customers think of you, ask Hoot and we’ll ask them for you.
