{"id":5403,"date":"2010-06-25T07:32:45","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T12:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/37d57f8fa2.nxcli.io\/blog\/?p=5403"},"modified":"2010-07-02T10:13:35","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T15:13:35","slug":"talk-to-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/customer-service\/talk-to-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Talk To Your Customers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/marketing\/build-trust-small-business\/\">small business<\/a> owners think they know more about their product or service than anyone else. And while they certainly may, to truly find out about your business, the last person you want to talk to is yourself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you really want to gain real insight about your business, product, or service, there\u2019s only one person to ask: the customer. Understanding why your customers buy from you will give you a solid understanding of your target market, and identify ancillary markets as well.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Your customers know more about your product and service than anyone \u2014 including you! They have purchased, used, referred, and returned to purchase more from you \u2014 and not the competitor. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/customer-service-ideas.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5455\" title=\"customer service ideas\" src=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/customer-service-ideas.jpg\" alt=\"customer service ideas\" width=\"150\" height=\"99\" \/><\/a>Why? Is it customer service? Price? Convenience? Reliability?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Don\u2019t you agree that this is important information to know? A real understanding of what drives customers to your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/marketing\/marketing-game\/\">small business<\/a> over the competition is priceless information you can\u2019t afford to be without.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To best understand your customers, go right to the source: ask them what they like, why they like it, what you\u2019re doing right, and why they don\u2019t go elsewhere. Have a face-to-face conversation at the check-out counter, commission a focus group, conduct anonymous questionnaires, or contract an on-line survey. Doesn\u2019t matter how you reach your customers, just reach them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\u2019m amazed how many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/success-factors\/small-business-marketing-2\/\">small businesses<\/a> don\u2019t seek feedback from their customers. Why? I think it\u2019s the same reason many of us put off going to the doctor, we don\u2019t want to risk hearing bad news. Don\u2019t be afraid about what you may find out. Knowledge is the first step to addressing issues that may negatively impact your business. I guarantee that you\u2019ll also learn something new from your customers that may be game changer for your business success.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Your customers possess the knowledge and perhaps the essential ingredients to help you allocate funds, resources, and employees in the most cost effective manner to keep the customers coming back for more and ensuring your future success.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8211; <em>Rocky<\/em><\/p>\n<table style=\"text-align: left;\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"8\" cellpadding=\"8\" width=\"450\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"450\" height=\"0\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#ececec\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/rocky-cipriano\/\">About Rocky Cipriano<\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mfsstore.com\"><strong><br \/>\nRelated Resources<\/strong><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/author\/rcipriano\/\"><br \/>\nMore Posts by Rocky Cipriano<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To discover the easy and inexpensive ways <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">anyone can attract more clients and maximize their profits<\/span>, sign up for your<strong> <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/free8-s.html\">FREE <\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/free8-s.html\">Profit Now <\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/free8-s.html\">Report<\/a>. <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px; text-align: left;\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"border: medium none; float: right;\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_e.png?x-id=6c91662f-6208-4aff-b4fb-699eb9bc7e69\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" \/><\/a><span class=\"zem-script more-related more-info pretty-attribution paragraph-reblog\"><script src=\"http:\/\/static.zemanta.com\/readside\/loader.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many small business owners think they know more about their product or service than anyone else. And while they certainly may, to truly find out about your business, the last person you want to talk to is yourself. If you really want to gain real insight about your business, product, or service, there\u2019s only one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[377],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}