Sorry, but you don’t matter very much!

Have you noticed that readership of LinkedIn posts seems to have dropped off recently? Mine certainly have: but of course, there is no reason why you should care about my popularity…

But if you’re reading this as someone who wants to attract customers there is a massively important lesson here!

Because it is not your customers’ job to care about you either…

You see, you and I spend a large proportion of our time doing what we do because it is how we earn a living. It is an important part of our lives, and it matters to us. Our customers, on the other hand, care significantly more about dozens of thing that matter more to them than we do! And we would do well to remember that fact.

It could be your customers are mistaken and that what you can do for them would, in fact, change their lives for the better. You could very well be the answer to all of their problems - but the truth is that you still do not matter in their mind at this moment! And it is what happens in their mind that counts.

?     You could be a financial wizard able to secure a guaranteed future income for life: but all they care about is how to pay today’s bills

?     Maybe your amazing alarm system could keep their home safe from thieves: but they believe that burglary only happens to other people

?     Perhaps you help busy people get more out of each day and live a stress-free life: but they are simply too busy today to give you the time of day

No matter what you believe you can do to help, you are irrelevant in your customer’s minds until you become a bigger priority than the multitude of things that occupy their mind right now.

So what is my point?

If you want to make a difference, you need to stop thinking in terms of ‘what’ you do and start focusing on your customer’s thoughts. To do this properly, you first need to know who they are – specifically. Then you need to try and understand the most pressing things on their mind – at any particular moment in time. Forget about ‘you’ and address ‘their’ need. To get their attention, you must answer the thing that matters to them the most.

The clever bit (too deep to go into here) is how to link this back to your solution…

I started this post by bemoaning my lack of views. But SO WHAT! Why should you care? I do believe there is value in what I write about: but I would be insane to think that anyone is sitting at their computer waiting for my latest post. If I want your attention, I have to earn it! I have to understand you and feed you something that might draw you away from what is in the front of your mind today.

If you’ve read this far, I have done my job – and it was probably using a ‘slightly offensive’ sounding headline which made you start reading… (think of this as shock and awe).  

I hope it was worth the few minutes you invested in reading this little thought and that it helps you in your endeavour to make a difference in the lives of your customers. After all, it is only by making a difference that you can convert a single sale into a customer for life!

PS. just to clarify the headline which persuaded you to start reading the post. Whether you are a customer (thank you if you are) or a welcome reader… you obviously do matter to me a great deal :-)