❓ Why Do You Want Customers?

One of the key questions to ask if you want to achieve new success levels is: “Why do we want customers?” Now, you might think that this is far too easy to answer. “We want to make money, that’s why we need customers,” may be your first thought. 

But here is the point: what are your next three answers?

I’m asking because if your only reason for having customers is to make money then you will cause lots of collateral damage and most likely not stay in business for a long time.

In fact, this one answer is exactly the reason why many companies struggle, hit a plateau, and then drown: they forgot to deliver the next answers to this question. Additionally, their employees were only focused on getting the highest profit possible from each customer. 

On the other hand, if (yes, if!) you manage to anchor a bunch of sound answers to the question “Why do we want customers?”, your team will act differently in the case of customer complaints or in any sales situation. As always, our thoughts determine our actions, which determine our success (or failure). 

So, what are three more excellent answers to the question above?

Here are ideas that the best companies in the world have in common: "We want customers because ... 

1. … we can make a positive difference in their lives.”
   As cheesy as this might sound, think about it for a moment. Are you and your team members truly behaving in a way where the key reason to have customers is to help them have better lives? I bet most customer complaints would be treated differently if this were true, and sales would certainly be much easier. The key is that we must truly believe in this answer.
2. … it is fun to work with them and serve them.”
   This is a huge potential in most organisations. “Fun?” I hear many staff members thinking, “we could have more fun without customers.” This is hardly ever stated officially, but look at the behaviour of yourself and your people: are they actively searching customer contact or rather trying to avoid them?
3. … we want to make an impact in the world.”
   You need customers to grow and to serve more people and businesses. This particularly applies to not-for-profits whose customers are their donors as well as to businesses with a good cause: the more customers you have, the more weight you get to change at least something significant in the world.

If you manage to anchor these different answers in the minds of your people, you won’t need to worry about getting more and more customers.

You can either do this on your own or ask me for support (➔ click here for more info). Either way, start giving new answers to the simple question, “Why do we want customers?"