50 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew

By Sonia Simone

Some items on this list might seem cynical, but they're not. The fact is, it doesn't matter what kind of customers you have. I don't care if your customers are kidney donors or Zen masters or million-dollar contributors to your nonprofit organization. Each one of us has some less-than-loveable characteristics that tend to come to the forefront when we're in the role of customer.

If you knew, really knew, these 50 things about your customers, and acted accordingly, you'd gain their trust and even their love. After all, who doesn't want to be loved despite all our flaws and embarrassing insecurities? The better you understand both the noble and not-so-noble secrets in your customers' consciousness, the better you can serve them.

Here are 50 things your customers wish you knew: about them, about how they see you, and about your relationship.

1. I don't need you to be perfect, but I do need to know I can rely on you.
2. Telling me what you don't know makes me trust you.
3. It means a lot when you . . . Click to continue »

Read the rest of this post on the beautiful new Remarkable Communication site!

Flickr Creative Commons image by clairity

Comments

[Kelly]

Crystal,

This is the best list post I have ever read. I have read one million and four list posts. :)

Printing, enshrining, and keeping forever.

Thanks!

Regards,

Kelly

[social network]

deserves to be digged.

http://digg.com/business_finance/50_Things_Your_Customers_Wish_You_Knew

[Maria Palma]

I agree with Kelly, this is definitely a keeper and I'll definitely be sharing it with my readers. Thanks for the inspiration ;)

[James Hipkin]

Absolutely fantastic! The most succinct and thorough overview of relationship marketing I have ever read. And I've read a lot, Relationship Marketing is a passion for me.

[Sonia Simone]

Thanks, all! I put a lot into this one so it is lovely to see comments.

James, you're making me blush, which I love. Thank you!

[Tim Patterson]

Excellent post, you had me smirking and nodding along. Thanks! I'm adding you to my RSS.

(found you through copyblogger, btw)

[Timothy Coote]

Yeah, this really is top shelf stuff Sonia. Number 26 is a killer and worth a post alone.

I'm certainly going to steal about half of these ideas to make my clients think I'm more intelligent than I really am;).

Keep the posts coming.

[Good Advice]

That's really good advice Sonia, thanks for that.

Thank You

[Naomi Niles]

I love this, so so true on them all. Thanks for sharing it!

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

Thanks for this, I had to Digg it! Because of this, I changed the way I responded to a request for customer service. I realize my email was going to add to this person's feeling of being technically challenged and foolish... my, my, how easy it is to commit these faux pas!

[Debbie]

This is a great post, thank you. I'm going to link it from my customer-focused blog.

[Sonia Simone]

Thanks all! So great to have you all here.

[Molly Gordon]

Fabulous! The customer may or may not be "right," but the customer is always the customer - and a human being. Seeing our work through their eyes is kinder to them and to ourselves.

Thank you!

[Anthony Juliano]

Great list. I'll add one more: If it's important to me, you better at least pretend it's important to you. I'd prefer that you think it's important, too, but even pretending to care is better than not caring.

[Karen Swim]

Printing, and laminating. This is an excellent list. Thanks for gathering all this knowledge in one list.

Karen

[Giorgi]

More like:

50 Things Your women Wish You Knew

[Carrie Watkins]

I'm only at #35, but I already want to print this out and post it on every bulletin board in my office. These are things we all need reminded of on a continual basis. Thanks!

[Kathleen Gage]

Outstanding post. It's so essential to know what our customers want. You have some great ideas and information here.

Kathleen Gage
The Street Smarts Marketer

[Adam Kayce]

Ditto, ditto, ditto. I almost never read list posts, and hardly ever make it through the first 10 items, but I read all 50 of these.

Definitely worth a Stumble, a fav, and a save.

[Janice Gentles-Jones]

Wow! I don't think you missed a thing. Thanks for such a great posts. It was very insightful!

[Shayna]

What a wonderful post. I'm going to make it required reading for my staff - AND for me over and over again. Thank you!

[Lisa Hughes]

This was a great post! I was originally searching for info about reading guests in the restaurant industry. I will be using this as a focal point in our training meeting! Thank You! Contact me if you are ever in NC.

[Kazztor!!!]

En verdad es el mejor post que he leido. De mucha ayuda para entender lo que la persona al otro lado del telefono necesita.

Yep, you have "at least" one happy Mexican reader. Thank you for this GREAT post. I will print and keep this awesome list next to my phone and read it every morning.

[Lynn Shepherd]

Communication is the essential ingredient in building relationships, personally and professionally. My favs are 8, 11, 14 and 20.

I would add:

Eye contact: let me know you are listening to me by looking me in the eyes.

Integrity: Fulfill your promises. Underpromise and overdeliver. Then I will trust you.

Intimidation: Don't try to talk over my head to impress me. Making me feel stupid is not a way to gain my trust or my business. (Relates to your #39!)

Thanks again for sharing!

[Tim]

As a sales person and amateur blogger I found this to be one of the best sales lists I have ever seen.

Consider this stumbled...

[komikresim]

Excellent post, you had me smirking and nodding along. Thanks!
Communication is the essential ingredient in building relationships, personally and professionally