Love our business and our customers
Jim Blyth writes in his book “100 Great Marketing Ideas”:
The better we understand our customers, the better we can serve them and, as a result, the more likely they are to return and buy again.
However, the mistake many companies make is to think that their “customers” are very different from their “employees”.
In fact, in many cases, the people who work at a company or store have many interests in common with the customers who visit that company or store.
This fact is especially prevalent in retail businesses; For example, people in the clothing industry love fashion like their customers; Or people who work in movie and music stores are usually good musicologists; And skilled chefs are personally interested in good food
So the basic question we need to answer is how can we turn our interest in what we do into interest in our customers?
Waterstone, for example, opened its first bookstore in 1982. In fact, instead of a bookstore, he went to share his passion for books with others
He encouraged his customers to research the books they were interested in and then buy them. For this purpose, he had placed chairs in his bookstore so that customers can sit on those chairs and check the book they want well and calmly. This custom still exists in Waterstone bookstores
There is nothing wrong with someone coming in the morning and sitting on one of the chairs and reading until night, but in reality, very few customers do that.
Most of the customers read limited pages or finally a chapter of the book and since most of them really love the book, they buy the book to read the rest at home.
On the other hand, at Waterstone, company employees are selected based on their interest in reading and their knowledge of specific subjects, and they are expected to share their interest and knowledge with customers.
That’s why Waterstone employees are really helpful to customers and their information from books is always up to date.
Waterstone’s example reminds us of the important fact that to be successful in marketing, we must simultaneously love our business and products and love our customers, and try to convey our love for our business to our customers.
Adel Ghaibzade | Kuching, Business Kuching
@adelghayebzadehcoach