True story….

Was working at agency and had a meeting with a potential new client. His business was cleaning — carpets, upholstery, etc. We held a meeting in which he explained how he wanted to get more customers (big shock);  “get more of the same folks I currently have” is how he worded it if memory serves me.

Ok, I’m processing this in my head… ‘he wants more customers like the ones he currently has… fine.’

So armed with this fact I posed what I considered to be the most obvious question to ask…

‘What does your average customer look like?’

This is fairly important data wouldn’t you say? I mean how were we as the agency supposed to grow his customer base if we don’t know what his existing customers looked like.

“Um, I would say around 30 to 65 in age… A lot of females but some males. They probably make something like $30,000 a year or so but some make more, probably a lot more. Some have kids, some don’t. Some own their own home, some don’t. ”

And on it went…

I am paraphrasing as I do not recall verbatim how this gentleman vainly attempted to tell us what his average customer looked like.

Needless to say we had our work cut out for us…

So, that was an example of someone not knowing their customer.

On the flip side is when business owners, companies and advertisers alike refuse to acknowledge who their customers really are.

I read a post other day on a great ad site called The Ad Contrarian. This particular post suggested we all should head down to our local DMV to get to know our customers… our REAL customers. The post featured a great quote from Eric Mathewson, Founder and CEO of WideOrbit:

“There is a huge problem in America where the people making decisions, who grew up in comfortable homes, went to expensive colleges and landed relatively plush jobs, think that the Average American is just like them.   It just isn’t true but this mindset frames enormous decisions in many industries including media.”

I could not agree more…

Consider: The median household income in the United States is $46,326.

Translation: The majority of Americans cannot afford nor do not shop at high-priced stores that sell high-priced items. No, the majority of Americans shop at Wal-Mart; they use coupons, they buy store-brands.

There’s a quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer that I want to share with you…

“Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgment of others.”

Think about that for a second from a business/marketing/advertising perspective.

You as a business owner want to create and foster a relationship with people in the hopes they will A) become a customer and B) remain a customer.

If that is the ultimate magic, you simply cannot sit in judgment of your customer. Your customers are who your customers are. Period. I realize I am simplifying that greatly but the point is you cannot make them something they are not.

So, quite the dichotomy, huh?

On one hand you had an example of not knowing the customer.

On the other hand you had an example of not wanting to knowing the customer.

In either scenario, the outcome is bound to be the same: Failure.

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