Why What Customers Want Has Changed (Maybe Forever)

It’s a tricky thing these days to try to figure out what customers want and what keeps them coming back to you. Here are four thoughts based on what I’ve been seeing recently:

· Sometimes “Good” is Good Enough: we got so comfortable with ‘excellence’ and ‘superior’ and other adjectives that define our value proposition; then the world fell off a cliff in 2007/2008. If you have taken your customers’ collective pulse lately, you might be surprised to find out that “good” is fine and that loading them up with features and benefits they might think are nice but won’t pay for, shrinks your bottom line. This is Southwest Airline's strategy and it seems to be working really well for them.

· Customers Want to Buy: Customers are so smart and informed. By the time they contact you or you do a sales call, they’ve already been online, searched Twitter and Google and asked their friends on Facebook about you and several of your competitors (yes, even B2B). They’ve got their shortlist and if you’re not on it, bludgeoning them with a sales pitch, drip emails or telemarketing calls won’t work. They want to buy; not be sold to.

· Faster.Better.Cheaper or Way Cool (or what?) Who are your customers and why do they buy from you? Instead of segments, try developing personas for major customer types. It is eye-opening when you think about customers as people with names, jobs, etc. Tailoring marketing messages and channels for personas is more effective because it's more personal and training front line staff is easier as well.

· Don’t Skimp on the Experience: Customers still want to have an experience that matches their expectations. Using personas can help define what those expectations are and once you know them, you can decide whether this is a customer group you can profitably handle or whether you should target personas that are a better fit with your existing business.

Are you looking at customers with fresh eyes? Are they account numbers or do they have personas?