I knew it was coming. The dreaded daily question. I watched the words fly through the air… “What do you want for dinner?”
Is there a more frustrating question out there?!
What’s fascinating is that how someone thinks about this question may have nothing to do with food. It might be that you want whatever’s easy. Or you may want to feel pampered by a dining experience. Or you might want comfort food. Or you want to go to the new hot spot in town your friends have been raving about.
What you want is more complex than pizza or soup or sushi.
In business, whether you’re a newbie or a veteran, it can be easy to confuse what you sell with what your customers want. They’re not necessarily the same thing.
When we work with a company, “customer want” is one of the first things we determine because it’s a powerful marketing tool.
And it doesn’t take 20 years of industry experience to figure out what your customer wants. At Guide MKTG, we work with companies in many industries — in fact, out of the 15 companies we worked with in 2021, only 2 were in the same industry. Wanna know how we help determine what their customers want? We look at what they value.
Bain’s Element of Value is an excellent framework you can use to uncover what your customers want because you’ll understand what they value.
Years of research lead to four categories: functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact.
Want to honestly know what your customer wants? Start with what they value.
That’s the formula for creating dynamite products and services that serve them well and grow your company.
Action Item:
Spend 7 minutes at Bain’s Element of Value and choose the ones you think are values for your ideal customer.
You’re going to use what your customer values as a way to raise your prices (or lower customer objections). Stay tuned for Part 2 of this conversion next week.
