how to become more relevant to your customers: Part 1

Many small and midsize companies struggle to compete with low-cost providers and big brands. This video covers four strategies to make your business more relevant to your ideal customers.

The Premise

For a company to survive and thrive in a world of abundance, it must answer two critical questions: „Why do people need this?“ and „Why should they choose us?“

The answer lies in understanding two types of relevance that determine whether your business will flourish or fade into obscurity.

What Is Absolute Relevance?

Absolute relevance is best defined by its opposite: relative relevance.

Relative relevance refers to how important, appropriate or valuable a company or product is to a customer compared to available alternatives. Absolute relevance, therefore, refers to the fundamental value or usefulness that a company or product has for a customer, regardless of the existence of potential alternatives.

Four Ways To Increase Your Absolute Relevance

Generally, there are many ways to increase your company’s absolute relevance and make your business matter. Here are four approaches:

1. Don’t try to be everything to everyone
Instead of promising everything possible to everyone reachable, it makes sense to choose a mission that is narrow, distinct and easy to communicate. Focus gives you the power of becoming an expert – someone people are actively and consciously seeking out because they want not just anyone but “the one who knows best”.

2. Understand Needs, Wants AND Constraints
Customers make buying decisions based on three key factors that drive a company’s absolute relevance:

• Needs are the essential requirements customers must fulfill. These are non-negotiable and represent the minimum threshold your business must meet to be considered at all.
• Wants go beyond basic needs and represent desires that aren’t essential but significantly influence choices when needs are satisfied.
• Constraints are the limitations that restrict customer choices regardless of their desires. These include budget limitations, time restrictions, geographic boundaries, technical knowledge, cultural background, or physical abilities. Even if someone wants your premium offering, their constraints might make it impossible to choose.

3. Listen and Adapt
Many businesses fail because they stop paying attention. As Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said, „Preserving the status quo is not a winning business strategy.“

Relevant businesses:

• Talk directly to customers about their needs
• Create feedback loops to catch problems early
• Watch for shifts in customer expectations
• Study what’s working in other industries

4. Communicate Clearly, Short and Humanly
One of the main reasons customers consider companies and products irrelevant is that they don’t understand them quickly enough. People just don’t have time. Respect that, especially at the beginning of a potential customer relationship, in a world full of noise.

Make your communications:

• Clear
  Strip away complexity and get to the point. When explaining your products, services or business, ask: „Could a 12-year-old understand this?“ If not, simplify it further.
• Short
  Respect people’s time. Edit ruthlessly. Short messages come across as respectful, not demanding.
• Human
  Talk like a person, not a corporation. Add personality where appropriate. Show that you consider customers as people, not numbers.

Want more advice on becoming the one for your customers? Consider hiring us for a keynote speech, workshop or in-person consulting.