Marketing 101 the basic thing you have to decide is WHO are you serving?? Pick an audience 1st. If it shifts over time that’s ok. Start with this question first.
It’s amazing over the past couple of weeks of how often people pitch me on LinkedIn, or groups that I volunteer for they are all over the map. They simply don’t know WHO they are serving. They have no experience being in the role that they want to fix. They have been in a role for so long, that they think everything is great! Wrong.
Next, you tell the people what they need, rather than asking them what they want or need. I know sometimes it’s just easier to tell people what you don’t want, rather than what you want. The negative side of things, isn’t bad it’s just not great either.
It’s really annoying getting pitches from people, who haven’t bothered to check to see what services I do offer. Or the sales person really just throws out a net to see what they can catch. This is BAD!!
If you want to win the right customers for you, think about who you want to serve..why? If you don’t ask the people you think you want to serve.
I remember way back when I was in an Entrepreneur class (a review) one of the questions our teacher had us to do, what to call on people to see what they would like in services or products. I was offering Kindness Consulting, Training at the time. Ok, the people I was calling didn’t really want that kind of training. It gave me a great opportunity to see WHO my actual customers are. It’s like de-cluttering the space so I could allow the right audience to come to me.
Yes, if you are shifting or wanting to make a change or just starting out.. really think about Marketing 101. Who are you serving? What am I going to provide, do they want it? If not ask the (people) what they want.
It’s really simple..
You know how stores lately are sending out reviews or questionnaires about the service you got, once you shop at their location. NPR.
I was shopping at DWS shoe store, I’ve never really had a bad experience there, recently I did. Here’s part of the review.
“The young man spoke to me in a derogatory tone. I was disappointed in your staff yesterday. They don’t know anything about shoes nor how to treat a customer with care.
I had asked one of the guys where I would find walking shoes and which ones he would recommend? He recommend one, I told him I can’t wear them. Why not? They don’t provide heel support as most of them are slip ons. And of course they are running shoes.
He told me to read the box. See, this box says running + walking, ok you can do both, they are not just walking shoes. I explained why I was looking for just walking shoes.
I understand it’s hard to get employees, DSW shoes needs to spend time training the people in customer service, the kinds of shoes are available, know where to find them. Cross training only works when they are trained.
I didn’t appreciate being yelled at “I told you so, already.“ It’s not like we spent a lot of time together.
“It’s a pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard.”
This is not Marketing 101 either.. it’s something else, similar message. Know who you serve!!
Read other articles about marketing 101
Until next time…
#kindnessmatters