Do You Know What Your Clients Really Want?

Have you seen the movie “What Women Want” with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt? It’s really funny and well worth watching for another reason: In the movie Mel Gibson, an arrogant and rather ignorant Advertising Executive, gets the gift of hearing women’s thoughts, unedited. And it’s not pretty what they think about him. The pay off of this gift is that he is able to present ideas to his female boss that she had thought about and he therefore just repeated from what he heard her thinking. While that may come across as not very creative (and by no means do I endorse how he uses that to manipulate her) – it’s actually incredibly clever and effective. What if you could hear your clients and potential clients think? And then you offered them exactly what they wanted? Until you and I acquire that skill, we will rely on things that they tell us. And on what we know of ourselves as clients. Knowing what works in Marketing and Sales, and having used myself as a study object, I am taking you behind the scenes, into your clients’ head. Letting you read their mind for a moment: What are they thinking when they are wondering whether to hire you or not? Here are five things that are really high up on your clients’ Want list. Just adapt them to your ‘tribe’ and think about this, isn’t this what you want as well? I have slipped roles for a moment and am now speaking as your client’s voice. And I’m telling it like it is. So please listen so you can serve me even better… 1. I want you to ‘get’ me How do I know that what you provide actually works? It can only work if you know what’s going on for me. So do you? Have you been where I have been? Or at least have you worked with people just like me? My biggest fear is to invest in false hope and then be bitterly disappointed. I’d rather not give it a go at all if I’m not sure. 2. I want you to be ‘real’ If I invest with you, I will need to be vulnerable about my shortcomings because that’s what you will be helping me to overcome. So I need to know that I can open up to you, that I will be emotionally safe. I also need to know that you are not some kind of ueber-achiever because otherwise I don’t think I can recreate what you show me because I am only human. 3. I want you to be specific about what you do for ME A lot of marketing out there just doesn’t speak to me, I can’t connect with it, its just generic words. The trouble for me is, I know what my problem is but I don’t know what the solution is. That’s where I need your help. My biggest challenge is to work out whether the solution you offer actually works for my problem. That’s why, the better you describe the problems you solve the easier for me to decide. 4. I want a good deal I love a deal. Money is precious and it’s never easy to part with it. But if you want me to make a quick decision, just give me a really good deal. It’s easier for me to justify buying from you that way. You know when I want to, it just tips the balance, gives me the extra little nudge I need. 5. I want to feel cared for I am special. And I want to be treated as special rather than just being one of your many clients. Once I know you are the real deal I am happy to invest a bit extra to get the special treatment I deserve. Well, what do you think? Does this ring true for you?