Most entrepreneurs start by basically trying to meet every consumer’s needs. This is very useful, but as your business grows, you tend to lose sight of why you even started the company in the first place; your customers.
The best way to stay in
tune with your customers is to understand your customer; a way to do that is by
being your own customer. For example; if you have a storefront or an
over-the-counter business, have a friend visit and report back to you. This
way, you have an idea of how your business is being run; how your customers are
being taken care of, and you’ll probably identify more ways to improve
services. You might see these as more work, but your customers are a top
priority. Regardless of how busy you are, regularly check in with your customer
experience.
Most people would agree
that the main reason why startup businesses fail or can’t seem to start on the
product or service they are trying to build is the lack of understanding about
the actual customer they want to buy their product. It is a fundamental
necessity to understand the target customers; their needs and motivations.
Ways at
which being your own customer helps your business
1. You will save more on
research.
A way to understand your customers is through a
series of interviews, questionnaires and surveys. All these can be very
important and valuable but very costly. However, it can’t beat knowing what
your customer needs because you are your own customer.
2. You become a better salesperson.
You need
excellent sales skills for your business to have any chance of success. Being
able to sell your ideas to investors, partners and customers give you that
confidence and genuineness about your product. Your founder story is more
genuine because it’s your story.
3. You will need passion to go with that
confidence to sell your ideas to different people.
But you will need resilience
to fuel your determination. In any startup business, you will encounter
challenges along the way – your resilience pushes through those challenges.
4. You are more invested in your business’
future success.
You need to put some money into your business, but then you
also need to put in time and effort.
An example of a
great business builder is Steve Jobs. He built the iPod and its digital music
store, iTunes, for himself. He relied on his own instincts which were built on
his own experiences. He was in many ways, his own customer.
Look at
businesses like solving a problem. Many times, the inspiration for your
products can be brought out of your personal experience with that product.
Sometimes the solution to that problem might be expensive or occasionally the
answers you think of might not work, but then as you think of solutions, you
are levelling up in the skill of problem-solving. Sometimes solving a problem
without having to worry about how you are going to advertise it to the public
can enable you to make something more significant than what you expected the
solution to be.
