KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER
Welcome to the 2nd Success Step in working a home business – know your customer
In the first article we looked at the importance of gaining a working knowledge of your products by using them yourself. Bonding with your products is step one. Step two is knowing who will buy your products or service from you. Who is your customer? Do you really know your customer? Let’s see.
In this, the network marketing niche, we get taught that EVERYBODY is our potential customer. Right? Do you agree? (So by the way, you are welcome to comment on these articles in the comment section below, and even get a conversation going. If you feel strongly about something; let us know.)
Let’s say you are in a company that has incredibly good nutrition supplements. Those are your core products. You know that everybody can benefit from using your products. As a matter of fact, after attending a few seminars on the products and after using and experiencing the results on the products yourself, you KNOW that everyone is your potential customer, right? Not necesirily.
Everyone might need to use your products, but not everyone will want to use your products. That’s what we call – reality.
It’s no good if you waste your valuable time running after people who need your products, but who do not want them. You will only agitate them, and frustrate yourself.
There is a better way, and we will get to that in the next article, where we will help you to identify your target market. For now, we first have to come to grips with a very basic truth about your customers. They are all people!
If you know your customer, you will know that they are normal people, just like you and me. Some new distributors have this notion that your customer is someone from another planet. They are alians or something. When you approach them and start talking to them about your business, you need to talk in alian language to them. Really???
Have you had a friend or family member call you about a work from home business opportunity before? If so, have you noticed how strange they sounded on the phone when they invited you over. Or worse, the “secretive invitation” where your best buddy all of a sudden can’t tell you anything; you just have to come down to this meeting. If you have experienced any of this, you will know what I’m talking about. For some bizarre reason, we tend to act and talk different around our prospective customers. Here’s the problem with that: it puts them on their guard! “What the hell is wrong with Johny this morning?”, they might think. It sounds like he swallowed a frog or something.
If you know yourself, you know your customer
The sooner you realise that all your customers are normal people just like you and me, the sooner you will begin to relax around them. The moment you relax, they relax. People will buy from you if they know, like and trust you. People do not trust other people who invite them to mysterious meetings or act all jittery around them.
As a matter of fact, the more relaxed you are about your products and your business opportunity, the more attractive you will become to the people around you. Let them know what you do, so that in case someone else approaches them, they will be able to come back to you and rather buy from you or join you, as they already know, like and trust you.
You do not have to be a people person, but you have to be able to communicate with people. The best advice I can give you in this regard, is to recommend a little book called “How to win friends and influence people”, by Dale Carnegie. As a matter of fact, there is another lesser known book by Dale Carnegie, which might be more on topic, it’s called “How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking”.
Both of these books are excellent resources and will benefit you tremendously. Understanding human nature and what people value, is of critical importance. Remebering and using someone’s name correctly; looking someone in the eyes when you talk to them; a firm handshake when you greet them; a friendly and positive demeanour; smiling; giving honest and sincere compliments and much much more.
I trust that this little article will get you to realise that it’s just as important to be able to bond with your customer, as it’s important to bond with your products. Bond with your customer, and you will have a customer for life. That’s how you really know your customer.
See you in the next article, “Know your Target Market”.
Here are the links to the 6 Success Steps for ease of reference once again:
#3 – Identify your target market
#4 – Package your presentation
#5 – How to get a new customer