Integration makes your business part of customers’ solution processes.
Since products are similar, differentiate your business as a superior choice for specific results.
Compare customers’ concerns & purchase patterns with suppliers’ offers.
If you have the same suppliers as big retailers, do those competitors advertise the same product versions? This information can help you plan promotions & avoid direct competition.
Do products seem alike despite different quality? Compare how differences will affect results.
If product versions are the same, specify how your services produce better results. Example: ‘Customer services make big differences when products seem similar. (Store) will help you plan tasks & choose products based on your goals because results depend on how you combine & use products. You need superior quality, so (store) adds the value you need.’
Customer integration decreases problems by using supply chain communication & team efforts. Encourage customers to share observations & insights. Organize & combine their input with professional level information, including advice from manufacturers. This information can help you optimize ads & precisely guide product choices & methods according to people's goals.
Offer complete results by forming an information & products supply chain. Example: ‘(Store) offers products with methods you need to start & finish projects. With information for each step, you’ll know how to use each product & get effective, efficient long-term results. We’ll guide you in choosing products that are compatible with each other & your goal. Your successful projects will upgrade your home & reduce your stress as you solve & prevent problems.’
Control Quality Issues With Products & Processes.
Problems could change or be uncovered in any process step. When people need to adjust steps &/or ways they use products, they need specific information instead of one-size-fits-all approaches.
When your store is integrated into customers' lives, results depend on the value you add. That integrated value can be customized results from combining products & insights.
Customer intimacy builds relationships & creates optimal insights developed by understanding people's needs.
Good relationships form around mutual dedication to achieving goals. Show you’re more dedicated to customers' goals than competitors by combining details into long-term improvements. Example: ‘We learn from research & solving customers’ problems because (store) does more than sell products. Bring shopping lists & questions, so we can guide you.’
Since suppliers need sizable markets, products might be made for a variety of tasks instead of being specialized. Compare products to local conditions. Some suppliers might offer you better service but their products might less effective in local conditions.
Consumers can get limited results from big retailers' commodities. When customers need something in your specialty to achieve goals, they can’t afford to come up short. To go the distance, they need progress without regression.
Offer confidence by explaining how & why products & methods contribute to long-term progress. Help people invest in more progress without excessive maintenance made necessary by using inferior products.
When you learn about people's conditions & goals, you can integrate with people’s lives. You’ll gain insights about positive & negative details.
Sorting details is necessary to determine what interferes with goals & positive conditions. Sort details & prioritize which factors to change according to people's limits (budgets, scheduling, etc.).
If people can't change each factor, check details to determine what interferes most with goals & positive conditions.
Find positive details & determine which factors to adjust. Example: Cushions & mechanisms make some lift chairs too big or heavy for patients' homes. Customer consultations can focus on appropriate chairs for people & possibly modifying their homes or other furniture.
Discuss Priorities
Since changes disrupt lives & can interfere with progress, discuss whether disruptions might become problems. If people can’t afford to change every factor or solve each problem, review conditions & discuss priorities, so they change or solve high priorities.
Discuss options. Example: Is it more effective &/or less expensive to enhance positive factors or eliminate negative factors?
Some say the devil is in the details. There can be angels in details. Angels are considered good forces (effects). Angels are also messengers, so look for messages (indicators). Details can indicate opportunities or growing problems while there’s still time for action.
Some details to examine are: causes & effects; current & potential problem symptoms; & consequences of disregarding problems.
Check for compatibility among customers’ priorities & goals; current resources; knowledge & skills; previous & developing results from actions in progress.
Help people consider future issues. Example: People want small, easy to park, fuel economic cars. Diabetes patients, who need canes now, soon might need wheel chair accessible vehicles.
It’s important to ask how people define what’s important to them. ‘It seems __ is especially important. I can help with that if you describe what it means to you.’
People use what feels comfortable, so compare results of their familiar tools & methods with what's better for new conditions. Explore options slightly beyond their comfort to expand possible solutions.
As people’s desires change gradually, maybe their current interests don’t match their resources, knowledge & skills. You can help people transition by accepting trade-ins & offering products, knowledge & coaching skills for their new interests. Sometimes, you might help rekindle interests by introducing new methods & products to end boredom.
Promote new details, so people know improvements are possible. Even if people get new innovative products, they might need new methods to get improved results.
Prepare For Changes
As you monitor new products & changing conditions, you can advise people to prepare for what's starting to happen.
Details help you guide people’s actions, projects & purchases in ways many big retailers won’t.
Study product details & methods, so you can help people focus on key details to improve projects & overall quality of life.
Prioritize details based on people’s needs, product availability, current & potential conditions.
If customers’ details indicate immediate needs but the most effective products aren’t in stock or affordable, discuss options.
How long can they wait?
What are their financing options?
Is it practical to start multiple step projects & delay some steps?
Can you plan the best interim results & adjust when better products or more money are available?
Some details could seem to be subjective or objective or at least be interpreted subjectively or objectively. Help people examine product advantages (pros) & disadvantages (cons) based on current & long-term needs compared to their desires.
Use important details about people’s conditions to determine product advantages & disadvantages.
‘(Product A) costs more because it does __ better than competitors’ products. You might need that if __.’
‘(Product B) does __ less thoroughly than competitors’ products. That lower quality is enough if you don’t need __.’
‘(Product C) does __ & __ to a lesser degree. That’s enough if you only need the results for a few years.’
Fiduciary Adviser
Do your best to fulfill a fiduciary role & advise customers to do what’s best for them even if you get less profits now.
Customers might not know what to ask because they don’t have enough information about problems & products.
Example: People might not notice slowly developing odors & wall discolorations until there's a big problem. Noticing problems isn’t the same as identifying causes & effects. Indicate how & where to look for symptoms, then determine what to do about causes & effects.
Even when people know something is wrong, they need to know who has resources. Your ads & in-store efforts (signs & discussions) should describe symptoms, summarize effects of problems & offer remedies.
Put details in ads, so people can recognize problems & know which solutions to discuss with you. Offer total solutions so people are less apt to settle for inadequate products from discount stores.
Example: ‘Have you notice (symptom list) in your basement? Those might be symptoms of (problem) & could be caused by __. Look also for causes like __. Bring your pictures, notes & concerns to (store), so we can confirm the conditions & determine what to do.’
Though it’s common to think about making competitively priced offers, you should make complete solution & prevention offers.
Solving problems can be a process starting with identification, progressing with choosing products & tasks for solving problems & maintaining results. Each process step depends on information.
Review people’s details, so you can help them with questions & answers.
To consistently add value to products, use lists to make basic processes. List questions for examining products & conditions to find details about what’s missing from conditions & which products & tasks could fill those gaps. List details you & customers need to know.
Processes increase effectiveness & efficiency. When you use processes to serve people, use Stephen R. Covey’s wisdom. Be effective with people. Be efficient with things. That’s very important in customer intimacy.
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Copyright 2020 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
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