This is a quote I read a long time back; I liked it so much, that I share this with many whenever a discussion of customers comes up.

“Focus on how you can make your customer look better. Enable them to learn more. Help them do their job better. If you can make someone a better person, you’ll make a fan for life.”

As entrepreneurs we strive to make the world a better place, we strive to make peoples lives better. Question is How Do You Make Peoples Lives Better? To do that you cannot assume that an idea you like and product you think of will be something others really want and that everyone will like it.

NO! Instead you have to understand your customers extremely well. Understand who they are, what they do and what they like . Your revenue will come from your customer so when you create a product for others to buy, you must make something that your customers will want and they will want that product if it will impact them positively. The only way you can figure out how to impact them positively is by knowing your customers inside out. Your role is to make the customer feel and look better.

The next thing, which you must do and which many of entrepreneurs forget to do, is to put yourself in the customers’ shoes. You need to think like the customer, see things, ask yourself;

‘Why would they want your product?’

‘Would they be able to afford your product?’

‘How would it improve their lives?’

‘Are you solving a problem that they want to be solved in the first place?’

‘Is there someone else who the customers can turn to for a better solution?’

If you look around, the best products are created from a need. From people who need to use it themselves. Inventors have made innovations that they were in need of themselves. By thinking as a customer, they were able to make innovations that were liked by many.

So what you need to do is very simple. Put others needs before yours. Understand your customer and their needs; see what you can do to make their lives better. Take the time to see things from their perspective, step into their shoes when designing your product.

As entrepreneurs we create products for others, something that someone else will use. As such, we need think like them and cater to them, so that they will come back again and again.

If you take the time to understand someone and do something that would cater to his or her needs, you will create a fan for life.

Inderjit Singh