I have come into some criticism of late around how long my blog’s are. It would seem that people are busy / not interested in long posts.
SO I WONDERED IF IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO DISTIL A BLOG INTO A SINGLE SENTENCE
No Matter whether we are a business or an individual we all have two customers to satisfy, internal and external and they often have juxtaposing positions but in order to be successful we need to satisfy them both.
Quite a long sentence but job done….right? well maybe I have satisfied some of you but it hasn’t satisfied me. I realise that I write blog’s for me and if other people like them then that’s a bonus. I love it when a post resonates with people and they say thanks by taking the time to write a comment, that is success, a win win situation both customers satisfied.
SO WHICH CUSTOMER IS MORE IMPORTANT AND HOW CAN I SATISFY THEM BOTH.
Why did you get into business in the first place is a good place to start, often people start businesses because they don’t like the company / people they work for and they feel that they can do a better job.
So they are starting with the internal client first and this is alright as long as you can do a better job then the company you left. I speak with lots of people who work with companies that are totally internally focussed and have no Empathy for their clients, it is almost as if their clients were a distraction.
This happens quite often in businesses that are being run by technicial people, I am not just talking about IT here, Lawyers and Doctors are some of the worst I have met.
Specialists who have no real interest in what you want to tell them as it gets in the way of their diagnosis / solution, and in this arrogance the opportunity to connect gets lost as only one of us got to say and the other didn’t. Nobody leaves a meeting like that looking forward to more interactions,
SO IS THAT HOW PEOPLE FEEL WHEN THEY LEAVE A MEETING WITH YOU
Other people start companies because they have a problem that they want to solve for them selves and there is a big enough market or a big enough problem that they can build a business.
Once again this is an internal focus initially and if you fix your problem you are happy and if you can fix other people with the same problem they are happy. The only real hiccup here is around value, just because you solved my problem doesn’t mean I am going to recommend you if you service / attitude was shit.
And then there are the people who start businesses because they get a brilliant idea and they want to disrupt the world ( for a good cause) all they need is your backing.
The danger here is often the people that you ask ” is this a good idea” aren’t your real audience or customer so their reply often sends you exploring the wrong market / product.
I guess the point I am trying to make here is that it is critical to make sure your audience you are satisfying is real. Many companies in the tech world fall into the trap of freemium / premium hoping the people who use their free product will pay more for a bigger brighter version.
Well if you are giving them all the value they need what will motivate them to suddenly want to pay…..often nothing.
So if your business relies on being paid by your external client then charge from the get go that way there are no disappointments at a later stage just when you had built trust.
Surprises might be nice for birthdays but rarely in business.
TO SUMMARISE
You can only ask yourself whether the internal was sastified, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can speak for the external one as well.
If you are still reading this thanks for spending the time I appreciate it.
As usual if you don’t agree or have something to offer go ahead ” make my day”
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