Meeting a Need: Excellence in Products and Services
By Stephanie Critchfield on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007All excellent products and services have one trait in common: They meet a need. It seems simple, doesn’t it? Sure, we can all name a few products and services out there that are useless, but certainly most that we use every day meet a need! Dry cleaners, high speed internet, cookware, appliances, utilities – they all meet a need. Or do they? Too easily – and too frequently – this most basic of concepts gets lost in sales.
Think about what it’s like trying to cancel your AOL service. You no longer have a need, but out of sheer gluttony, AOL insists you stay with them – forcing free months of service on you. What about that water bill? You don’t use 3,000 gallons of water, but you get charged for it anyway – the ‘consumption minimum’ – or maybe just a way for your water company to report more sales.
Inspired by Melissa Read’s blog post (I Heart Mr. Hutchins), I have decided to discuss this concept through example. I have an incredible mechanic. Yes, I did just use the words ‘incredible’ and ‘mechanic’ in the same sentence.
EXCELLENT products and services meet their customers’ needs and often identify what they are when they can’t see it themselves. John (the incredible mechanic) has been working on my car for the past 4 years or so. A co-worker referred me to him, who was also referred to John by a friend. Never once has John misdiagnosed a problem or suggested work on my car that wasn’t needed. John has also identified problems on my car and worked with me to correct them before they became major (and expensive) troubles.
I am getting ready to buy a new car, but (of course) this week I found myself needing to take my car to John with some “funny noises.” I had a rental car reserved and was fully prepared to leave my car for him to work on. Knowing I would be soon getting rid of my car, he suggested we take a spin together and let him do an informal diagnosis. In the end, I didn’t leave my car with him – he told me to “save my money” because he didn’t see any problems with the car. Yes, a mechanic told me to “save my money”.
John met my need. He could have just as easily suggested that I fix things on my car for the sake of selling it, but he knew that wasn’t what I needed. Because John has so consistently met my needs, I have referred him over and over again to friends and colleagues, and I will continue to do so.
The lesson here is: a good mechanic is one who diagnosis YOU, not just your car. Big business should use John as an example – evaluate the needs of your customers and provide them products and services that they will rave about, not just settle for.
good points. It also is not just about meeting your clients needs but helping them to identify what they need or do not need, which John did a great job, and creating a loyal customer who will be happy to refer business to him. I have worked for companies that were so focused on quota that they did not care what the client actually needed or the logistics that we as a company could handle, they just focused on the sale. That was the best way to lose clients AND good employees.
Hey Sherry, I was hoping you’d post on this seeing as how you and I had a conversation along these lines just the other day. Considering the landscape of interactive marketing and particularly your specialty (social media, blogging, etc.), it is crucial to understand the client’s needs rather than your own sales goals/quotas.
One line in your post was very interesting to me:
“Never once has John misdiagnosed a problem or suggested work on my car that wasn’t needed.”
How do you know? That’s always the part that gets me about mechanics - how do you know that they aren’t misdiagnosing?
I think that’s the same issue for consulting/interactive agencies (or rather, for their customers). Customers often don’t know what they don’t know. A good sales person can take advantage of that and leave them saying:
“Never once has _company X_ misdiagnosed a problem or suggested work on my _business_ that wasn’t needed.”
Good question TS, and you are so very right. Deceptiveness is a very real – and very unfortunate - part of the problem. In my case, I feel so confident that I’m not being bamboozled by John for two reasons. One, I had the experience of taking my car to other shops before John. I’ve seriously seen a difference of over a $1000 for the same work between shops. Second, and most importantly, he gets me involved. He doesn’t shove me in some waiting room or call me with a bill. John has been teaching me about my car. Every time I’m there, he’ll raise the car up and show me where the problems are (or might be). He’ll point out components of the engine and where the fail and wear points are, and what tricks he has for improving performance or wear on the car. He also plugs my car into the computer before I leave the car with him and shows me on the screen what the readouts are and what they mean - being clear to point out “false reads” and real problems. John is the very best there is. He’s even gone as far as to loan me his own car while he works on mine so that I wouldn’t have to rent a car. The blog doesn’t seem like enough to thank him.