If you’re a regular Morsel reader, you are probably aware that I read a lot of marketing- focused books. Continuing education is good for the soul (and business).
This month’s book is The Bezos Letters - “14 Principles to Grow Your Business-Like Amazon”, by Steve Anderson. I learned earlier about Bezos’ rule to have an empty chair in every meeting, representing the customer. It inspired a video I created and entered in a Central Penn Business Journal video contest a few years ago (Of course I won the $10,000 ad contract first prize. That’s why I’m mentioning it here). It motivated me to order this new book.
You will have to read the book yourself for the lessons about the other 13 Principles. For this month’s Marketing Morsel, I am sharing some observations on Principle number 4 – “Obsess over Customers”, in my opinion, the heart and soul of this work.
When you try to put a recommendation together for a client (customer), start with the questions Amazon asks: Who is the customer?; What is the customer’s problem or opportunity?; What is the most important customer benefit?(singular); How do you know what the customer needs?; What does the customer experience look like?
If you become truly obsessed over customers, establish a goal for yourself to make the customer say “Wow” when they deal with you. Start with some selftest direction from the book: Write a description of your “good” customer. What are his/her three to four key traits? What is the biggest service problem that you can help solve? What can you do today to improve that customer’s experience? Challenge your team to super-serve your customers, even if it costs more.
Have fun with this. And may your November business not be a turkey!
View previous monthly morsels on our Free Marketing Advice page.
