Talking To Your Customer is Better Than Talking About Your Customer

Robby

Here in the Midwest, we tend to be a little more reserved. Maybe it’s an Indianapolis thing, but it seems like so many business people don’t want to talk to the customer. They want to talk about the customer, but not to them. Why is that?

© Flickr User Didriks

Let’s draw a distinction between these two activities.

Talking To The Customer

This seems pretty straightforward. It’s when you go to their office or pick up the phone. It’s when they come to your business or send you an email. Talking to the customer means having a real conversation with them.

Talking About The Customer

If the customer isn’t in the room and you’re talking about products or services, that’s fine. If the customer isn’t around and you’re discussing finances, hiring, or internal procedures, that’s perfectly ok.

But talking about the customer is an attempt to describe what you think they want, or what you believe they are thinking. And of course, nobody really knows that.

Why This Matters

Talking to the customer is one of the best things you can do with your time. But talking about the customer is downright awful. It causes us to think we know what’s going on when we don’t.

What’s worse is that many companies (and I’ve seen this first-hand in Central Indiana) spend more time talking about the customer than they do talking to them! That’s crazy.

Pick up the phone. Go and visit them. Don’t speculate, ask!

It makes a difference.