In our previous blogs this month, we have covered several different factors in society that you can monitor to help predict events. Now let’s look at another one, which is understanding how your customers and prospects think.
Monitoring customer thought would be especially pertinent to your particular industry or market segment. Gaining an insight into your buyers’ opinions could go a long way to helping you predict events and trends in your business sector.
Direct Surveys
One method of gaining this insight, which a number of our clients utilize, is to survey customers directly—and, if possible, prospects that fall within your buyer profile—on how, for example, the pandemic continues to affect their lives or business. You could ask them where they see the future going, for their business and the general market.
Pandemic or no, it is essential to keep your finger on the pulse of your buyers’ thinking. It divulges opinions about your product or service line and your company. Through surveying, you could discover, for example, that there is a feature that customers would really like in your product.
Simultaneously, because you have also been monitoring the market directions in your industry as we advised in our last article, you might find out that one of your competitors is about to launch a new version of their product with this feature that your customers are desiring. You could then get that feature included in your product, so you do not lose customers, and perhaps even steal a few from your competitors.
Keeping your finger on your buyers’ thinking pulse is so vital that some companies even have that role as a full-time job.
When You Don’t Do It—A Real Example
Not following the thinking of customers and prospects can cost you dearly. Back at the turn of the millennium, you might recall predictions that all computers would crash when the century turned because many had not been programmed with “19” as part of the year.
This became known as the “Y2K bug.” One particular software developer decided he would make his fortune from this and set to work developing a “fix” for the Y2K bug for home computers, which he “knew” would make him an instant fortune when the millennium changed.
He closed his ears to the thousands of experts who said that there was no such issue and that absolutely nothing would happen when 1999 become 2000. On top of that, he decided to ignore a survey of his prospects and customers, which he paid for, which revealed that most did not believe that the Y2K bug was real.
The millennium turned and…nothing. This developer had wasted a tremendous amount of time and money by not paying attention to customer opinion.
We highly recommend gaining foresight into upcoming trends and events, utilizing your customer and prospect opinions.
