Knowing who your customers are only gets you halfway. The other half is knowing what your customers actually want.
Many solopreneurs and micro business owners think they know. They’ve been doing their thing for years. They’re experts. They work really closely with the people that buy from them. They know exactly what their customers need.
But what customers need and what they want are two very different things. And people buy what they want.
Need vs. Want
Let’s start with a simple example. Your customer needs a website. What they want is the phone to ring. Your customer needs a bookkeeper. What they want is to stop lying awake in January worrying about their tax return. Your customer needs a necklace for her sister’s birthday. What she wants is to see her sister’s face light up when she opens the present.
The need is the thing. The want is the feeling or the result.
When you talk about the need, you sound like everyone else. When you talk about the want, you sound like someone who gets it.
Greggs is brilliant at this. Nobody needs a sausage roll or a steak bake. But plenty of us want a warm, cheap and cheerful treat on a cold Tuesday morning that asks nothing of us. Greggs doesn’t sell pastry. It sells a small, affordable bit of comfort. Their marketing knows it, their prices know it and their shops know it.
Why Guessing Gets You Into Trouble
When you guess what your customers want, three things tend to happen.
- You describe the wrong things. You talk about your qualifications, your process and your years of experience. Your customer is scanning your website for one thing: can this person solve my problem?
- You build the wrong products. You spend weeks creating a course or a package nobody asked for. Then you launch it to the sound of tumbleweed.
- You price on the wrong basis. If you don’t know what the result is worth to your customer, you’ll price on what feels comfortable to you. And that’s usually too low.
None of this is a disaster. It’s just a waste of your time and energy. And when it’s only you or a small team, time and energy are the two things you can’t afford to waste.
The Good News? You Can Just Ask
Finding out what your customers want isn’t complicated. You don’t need a research budget or a fancy survey tool. You need to ask the right questions and then actually listen to the answers.
Here are four simple ways to do it.
1. Talk to Your Existing Customers
Your best source of information is the people who have already paid you. They chose you over everyone else.
Find out why.
Pick five customers you enjoyed working with. Ask if they’d give you 15 minutes for a quick chat on the phone or over Zoom. Most people are happy to help, especially if you make it clear you aren’t trying to sell them anything.
Then ask these questions:
- What was going on for you when you first started looking for help with this?
- What made you choose me rather than someone else?
- What nearly stopped you from buying?
- What’s changed for you since we worked together?
- If you were telling a friend about me, what would you say?
Write down their answers in their words, not yours.
The last question is gold. The language your customers use to describe you is the language you should be using on your website.
It’s what Claire Howard did. One of the first things I asked her to do was collect five words from friends, family, customers and suppliers to describe her and her business. It turned out to be one of the most powerful things we did together. She saw her business the way they saw it. Those words now shape how she talks about her jewellery everywhere: her website, her social posts, her product listings and even her answer to “what do you do?” In her words: “I suddenly felt proud of what I’d built. I saw it with fresh eyes.”
It’s a lovely, simple exercise. Try it yourself.
2. Ask Your Audience
If you have an email list or a social media following, you have a ready-made focus group.
Use it.
I ran a subscriber survey over the summer. I asked my readers what was going well and what they were finding hard. The answers shaped the content I’m writing now (including this blog). It took one email and a free Microsoft Form.
- Keep your survey short. Three to five questions is plenty.
- Ask open questions where you can, and include at least one that starts “What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing with…?”
On social media you can go even lighter. Post a simple question and see what comes back. “What’s the one thing you wish someone had told you before…?” will get you more useful information than a lot of guessing.
3. Read What People Are Already Saying
Your customers are telling you what they want every day. You just have to look in the right places.
- Your reviews and testimonials. What do people mention again and again? That’s what they value
- Your competitors’ reviews. What do people praise? What do they complain about? Complaints are a list of opportunities
- Facebook groups, forums and Reddit threads. Search for your topic and read the questions people ask. Notice the words they use
- Your inbox. What questions do enquiries ask before they buy? Those questions are your next five blog posts
This is free, it’s quick and nobody even has to know you’re doing it.
4. Listen (properly) in Every Conversation
You already talk to potential customers all the time. At networking events. On discovery calls. In the queue at the post office.
Start listening differently. When someone tells you about a problem, ask one more question than you normally would. “What’s the impact of that?” or “What would it mean if that was sorted?” The second answer is almost always more useful than the first.
Write it down. Keep a note on your phone called “What customers say”. Over a few months you’ll have all the info you need.
What to Do with the Answers
Asking is the easy bit. The real value comes from what you do next.
Look for patterns. One person saying something is an opinion. Five people saying the same thing is a trend. Group the answers into themes. You’ll probably find there are three or four things that come up again and again.
Borrow their words. If customers keep saying “I just wanted someone to tell me what to do”, put that phrase on your website. Use it in your social posts. Use it in your email subject lines. When people read their own words back, they feel understood.
Check your offers. Do your products and services deliver what people say they want? Or are you selling something slightly different? Sometimes a small tweak to how you describe something makes all the difference. Sometimes you’ll realise a whole package needs a rethink.
Check your prices. If customers tell you that working with you saved them hours every week, or helped them land a big contract, that tells you something about your value. Price for the result, not the time.
How Often Should You Ask?
Not once.
Customers change. Markets change. What people wanted in 2023 isn’t necessarily what they want now (or will want in 2033).
Build it into your routine. Here’s a simple rhythm that works for a one-person business or a small team:
- After every project or sale: a short feedback request with two or three questions
- Every quarter: two or three customer conversations
- Once a year: a short survey to your list
That’s it. A couple of hours a quarter. And it’ll save you from building things nobody wants.
A Word About Asking for Feedback
I know some of you will be squirming at this point. Asking people what they think of you feels exposed. What if they say something you don’t want to hear?
Here’s my thoughts on that.
If there’s something you could do better, you want to know about it. Better to hear it from a friendly customer over a cup of tea than to wonder why sales are sluggish or have dried up.
And most of the time, people will tell you lovely things. Things you didn’t know they valued. Things you can put on your website or shout about on your socials tomorrow.
Your Next Step
This week, do one thing.
Email those five customers and ask if they’d give you 15 minutes. Use the questions above. Write down what they say.
If you’d like a structured way to work through this (and the other areas that make a solo business tick), download my free guide, Back to Business: 7 Simple Steps to Boost Your Income and Impact This Autumn. It walks you through the practical bits, one step at a time.
If you’d rather talk with me about how I can help you with this – and other aspects of your business – book a free 30-Minute Consult. We’ll look at where you are and what to do next.