Think Your Way To Entrepreneurial Success (Part 2)
In my last post I shared 3 modes of thought that help you succeed as an entrepreneur. In this short post I share 1 more important mode of thought for entrepreneurs.
Think Like a Customer- So many entrepreneurs have great product and service ideas for their customers but they don’t really know their customers. They don’t spend time really interacting with their customers so they don’t know how their customers think. This is tragic. This is why many of the product and service ideas they have for their customers fail to deliver real value to the client and real profit for the entrepreneur.
Successful entrepreneurs know how their customers think and so they know how their customers will react to new products and services. Indeed they can think like their customers. How did they develop this skill? They developed this skill by spending lots of time interacting with their customers. Asking not only what their customers want and need but finding out why their customers have this need. Then they spend time thinking deeply about the implications of what they have heard from their clients.
Which clients should you focus on? This is a good place to think about the 80/20 rule. Since 20% of your customers create 80% of your profits, thinking like these customers will give you your greatest return on investment.
Take time today to spend time with your customers. Learn from them and learn to think like them.
As always, I solicit your feedback and your thoughts. This site is for you and I want to know what you think. Thank you.
This is so truely helpful. As an aspiring business women, I am taking this time in business plan getting to know my clients. I am a teacher by profession and the clients I want to serve are just like the ones in my classroom.
When I start a new cycle of students I always share with them my struggle as a math student. This in-turn allows them to share their frustrations and fears about math. I sit with them talk with them; I slow down and truly find out what they need. By the end of the cylce most of these mathphobic students are mathmasters.
All this is done by getting to know their needs. However what I also find is, allowing them to know what your needs and struggles were( or still are) allows them to relax and open up. They feel, I’ve been told this by my students, that if i did it they can surely do it. I plan on taking this same approach into my learning centers.