Want Better Customer Insights? Start With These Two Questions…

Where does the real value of your business come from through your customers’ eyes? The best way to find out is to ask them.

We’ll keep today’s post short and leave you with an exercise to try with the people who buy your product or service. We recently heard these two questions shared by serial entrepreneur Sharran Srivatsaa, and they’re worth thinking about:

• What’s the one thing that, if we took it away, would make us less valuable to you?
• What’s the one thing that, if we added it, would make us more valuable to you?

Most businesses spend a lot of time talking about what they believe makes them different. The challenge is that customers don’t always value the same things we do, which leaves us making assumptions. What we see as our greatest strength might simply be expected. Meanwhile, the thing they appreciate most may be something we’ve barely noticed, a blind spot.

The first question helps uncover what customers would genuinely miss if it disappeared. The second reveals opportunities to create even more value moving forward.

Ask a handful of your best customers. Listen carefully, and look for the patterns. You may discover that the value you create isn’t where you thought it was, and that insight can shape everything from your marketing and sales conversations to your service experience and future investments.