*What do you know about the people / organisations who will buy your products and services?*

To be successful at business it is not just about whether you would buy your product or service but WHO will. The founder is not the customer and learning to see the potential customer's viewpoint enables success marketing.

Marketing and sales needs are, for almost every company we work with, the main issues a client wants to address. Clients ask crucial questions such as:

How do we reach new customers?
How can we increase sales?
How do we find better customers?
How can we increase customer retention?

These are common and frequently recurring questions, crucial ones infact, that all businesses should ask themselves repeatedly in order not to fall behind in their market.

We have found the key to doing marketing well is to make sure you tailor your activities to the potential customer's preferences and not just to your own.

For example, you may not like a particular style of advert or colour in your logo but would your customer? After all, they are the ones who you will need to give your business money. So how you present your product or service in their eyes matters.

Customer perspective is only a starting point but an important one. We've found that when these types of questions are asked, the Empathy Map from the Business Model Canvas book is a brilliant resource to direct clients too. It is clear, publicly accessible and highly repeatable but most importantly it is an effective tool. If you need to review your marketing get a group together and ask the following questions about your potential customers:

What do they think, feel, say, do, see and hear?

If you cannot answer these types of questions then you need to find out more. Remember, these are questions aimed at your customers / potential customers and NOT you!

After this ask two more questions:

What are their problems? (i.e. their pains)

What do they want more of ?(i.e. the gains they seek)

How you write, speak and present your services / products should use the style and language you gather from the first question. Then you can, in the best possible manner, show how you reduce their pain and increase their gain.

These questions require some thinking, some searching and most importantly the identification of key customer groups. This can be as quick or as thorough as you deem necessary. The key point is it is something that must be done. Then you take the knowledge you've gained and apply it to a successful marketing plan.