Comments on: Are You Willing To Do What It Takes?

By: Debbie Hallam

Debbie Hallam — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:24:17 +0000

I attended a conference recently and the reminder about doing what your customers want was mentioned several times. I then went and shared this very thought last week with my chapter! Two important things for me are to actually ask your clients and be brave enough to accept their critisism in order to change, and secondly to remember that without clients there is no business!!

By: Nic Dale

Nic Dale — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:34:52 +0000

Who remembers New Coke? In blind tests Pepsi always came out on top so Coke created a cola that beat pepsi in blind tastes. On the face of it when Coke released New Coke they had given the market what they wanted, a better tasting cola but of course by forcing change on consumers it destroyed their market share and within months they were forced to introduce Coke classic, the coke we drink today. The moral of the story is to ask better questions to find out what your customer really wants.

By: Craig Lawson

Craig Lawson — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:51:49 +0000

How timely! We are looking at setting up a franchise in Golden Bay. The Master franchise are telling us to do it there way but we are getting different feedback from the locals. This article will help us with our decision and strengthen our concerns.

Thanks Clive

By: Pat Davis

Pat Davis — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:26:47 +0000

Steak and veggies have never been on my menu. I guess that the decision to be middle to up market and keeping with that has paid dividends. There are more curtain stores in this town though and each fills a market. If we were the steak and veggie company we would rarely sell quail as we were not known for it. And as we already sell quail, and a lot of it I see no need for steak and veggies. Good analogy though and very thought provoking.

By: Lorien Goedhart

Lorien Goedhart — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:31:51 +0000

I have found this to be so true. The more I listen to what my customers truely are asking for, the more successful the outcome. Trying to give them what I think they want or worse yet what I want them to have rarely works. This is such a simple message but a powerful one. It flexes one of your best sales strategys – the Art of Listening! People are not all the same and to be lumped into one category, the human race is a big melting pot of different tastes, attitudes and beliefs. If we were all the same the world would be very boring! Thanks for your insights.

By: Graham Southwell

Graham Southwell — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:50:13 +0000

So true Clive – thanks for this. As they say, pride come before a fall – however it is not easy to put one’s ego to one side and to accept that there may be a better way to do something.
Thanks for sharing this,
g